Suzuki Hideaki 鈴木 秀昭 (b. 1959) has an unconventional potter by measure of the tradition-steeped ceramic industry in Japan. He studied sociology at the Bachelor’s level in the US, while also not having grown up around ceramics. After his brief sojourn in the United States, and confronted with the question of career and futures, he decided to pursue ceramics as a formal path, studying at the Kutani-yaki Technology Research Center in the Ishikawa Prefecture in 1991. From here, his artistic expression flourished, influenced by Modern & Contemporary art movements that decorate his lush pictorial surfacescapes that feature scrolling images inspired by Art Deco and Superflat- pioneered by the Contemporary Artist Takashi Murakami- movements. His works are inspired by the tension between 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional form, asking how materials work together to create harmony or in dissonance in the ceramic medium.

Slow looking: This gorgeous, golden porcelain jar has been hand-painted with gold lustre and polychrome enamel in an Art Deco & contemporary style. The geometric patterning inspired by Takashi Murakami’s Superflat postmodern aesthetic points to the artist’s study of sociology and understanding of how modern media moves through art spaces.