Hayashi Yasuo 林康夫 Japanese, b. 1928

Hayashi’s practice has lasted over eight decades and is now consid- ered one of the most important forerunners of abstraction in contemporary Japanese ceramics. As a founding member of the Shikokai 四耕社 and an important precursor to the Avant-garde ceramics group Sodeisha 走泥社, Hayashi has played a key role in the modernization of Japanese pottery using innovative sculptural direction. His playful take on formalism recalls ideas behind the Minimalist movement in America in its willingness to push the boundaries between two- and three-dimensionality.