Oishi Sayaka 大石早矢香 Japanese, b. 1980

We are pleased to present our inaugural pop-up exhibition in the United Kingdom! The culture of tea, or chanoyu (茶の湯), developed over six centuries ago, shaped by elite Samurai life during the Edo Period. At its core is the tea bowl or Chawan, the point of direct physical and multi-sensory contact. It is held, turned, and contemplated in the hands, its weight, texture, surface, and warmth is felt even before the first sip. Each chawan expresses a different moment of encounter in every aspect of its form: from the Mikomi (見込み, interior) to the Shomen (正面, face), each component showcases a new, magical element designed to move the beholder deeply. 

Today, contemporary makers from Japan, spanning tea practitioners to contemporary artists and ceramicists, find wonderful and exciting ways to express new energy, ideas and beauty through the tea bowl form. This summer exhibition showcases works that emphasizes that captivating and interpretative mode. 

Dai Ichi Arts is pleased to present an exciting summer exhibition of women artists from Japan working in the ceramic medium. This exhibition brings together some of the most important figures of the past century alongside a new generation of contemporary ceramic artists, whose practices reflect a rich diversity of styles and dynamic approaches to clay.

Building on Radical Clay—a traveling U.S. exhibition currently on view at the Phoenix Art Museum, featuring women artists from Japan from the renowned collection of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz—this exhibition expands the dialogue by highlighting both established and emerging voices in contemporary Japanese ceramics.

In this exhibition, flora and fauna converge, giving rise to captivating contemporary ceramics. Through the work of two young women artists from a new generation of ceramics in Japan, this show expands the potential of "decoration" as a primary mode of artistic expression, as seen through the contemporary perspectives of Shingu Sayaka and Oishi Sayaka.

Shingu Sayaka’s work places a significant emphasis on the symbolism of flora and botanical forms, allowing her to explore profound Japanese themes of mutability and ephemerality through both sculptural and functional pieces. Her work showcases the intricate beauty of butterfly wings, feathers, petals, leaves and more. In this show, she introduces a new series of "Lotus" pieces, sculpting the iconic lotus flower and its leaves into sensitive and daring ceramic sculptures that remind us of nature's fragility.

Oishi Sayaka crafts surreal compilations of fauna in her sculptural and functional creations. For this show, she has created work that showcases an exquisite array of fauna, including eagles, turtles, coral reefs, koi fish, deer, lions as well as her signature “Apple” forms that show an amalgam of her animated motifs. Through her work, she explores metaphysical themes: nature, human identity, time, and mortality converge through the mode of decoration.

Both artists from Kansai, who share the same given name and have become fast friends, have explored the tension between form, function, and surface to create new works in dialogue with one another. We welcome you to contact us for more information.