KOMAGO Tetsutarou 小孫哲太郎 b. 1974
H5.3 × Dia 7.9 cm
Further images
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 1
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 2
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 3
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 4
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 5
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 6
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 7
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 8
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 9
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 10
)
KOMAGO Tetsutarou 小孫 哲太郎’s delightful artworks focus on surface decoration, particularly from tradition of Arita ware and porcelain surfaces. He's interested in pictorial decoration, and how it can be elevated to contemporary motifs. This tradition is also echoed in export cloisonne produced during the Meiji period, when Western visual cultures, technologies, and 2 dimensional art (print, etchings) were being imported into Japan simultaneously. Decorations of mythical beasts and swirling clouds were brought more and more into domestic export porcelain.
Komago’s pieces are whimsical, etched onto surfaces and sometimes decorated with metallic gold or silver enamel. The polychrome pieces recall childhood, a subject of which there is a long visual culture and history in the decorative arts of Japan. With the visual cultures of childhood from elsewhere, one might recall little painted easter eggs from the English countryside, invoking Beatrix Potter and the whimsical naturalism in her illustrations.