Russell Kelty talk on 'Pure Form: Japanese sculptural ceramics' AUG 5
Mark Erdmann
Russell Kelty is Curator of Asian Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, where he has curated and contributed to major exhibitions and catalogues, including Pure Form: Japanese sculptural ceramics (2022), Samurai transformed (2019 - 2020), Chiharu Shiota: Embodied (2018), Ever blossoming: The flower in Japanese art and culture (2016) and Treasure Ships: Art in the Age of Spices (2015-2016). He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney researching the depiction of foreign ships by Japanese artists during the Edo period (1615-1868).
Today, Japan has one of the most dynamic ceramic cultures in the world. This vibrant culture is in part due to a transformation which began in the post-war years as young avant-garde ceramicists largely based in Kyoto utilised clay for personal expression and in the process created non-functional, sculptural, ceramic objects. The monumental shift initiated by groups like Shikōkai and Sōdeisha liberated subsequent generations of ceramicists from the well-established hierarchies of taste and methods of creation. The result was a world-leading shift in ceramic expression, positioning contemporary Japanese works at the forefront of international modernism, which continues to resonate with ceramicists today.
Pure form: Japanese sculptural ceramics presents the rich diversity of sculptural ceramics created by men and women from the late 1940s to the present on loan from public and private collections across Australia. It is the first exhibition of its kind in Australia to present this compelling narrative and includes a kaleidoscopic array of over one hundred works of art by sixty-five Japanese ceramicists.