Tanaka Yu 田中悠
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In recent years, Tanaka Yu (b. 1980) has risen to international prominence for her celebrated series of "Tsutsumimono," sculptures create the illusion of a Furoshiki, the name for a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, carefully folded around “concealed” vessels. No vessel exists beneath the surface. Each work is entirely hand-built, constructed solely through ceramic techniques that create the illusion of soft, pliant, dyed velveteen or silken fabric. She uses layers of pigmented slip to the unfired clay, before re-applying the surfaces with the same pigment to create an even tone. Although most of her works possess a matte finish, the subtle interaction between pigment and clay softly refracts light, producing a velvety surface animated by shifting shadows and gently undulating folds.
Shikoku-born Tanaka Yu is an internationally celebrated ceramic artist. Having graduated from Kyoto Saga University of Arts and now based in Kyoto, her works are predominantly non-functional objet d’art; autonomous sculptural forms exemplified by the large work included in this exhibition catalogue. Tanaka has exhibited widely in galleries and museums the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom and beyond, and her work is recognized across the fields of contemporary art, design, and contemporary craft.