2022.03.08 - 2022.04.04

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Exhibition Statement

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Dust and haze are filled in the air when the fine buckwheat husks are being poured into the kiln. The glaze colour changes due to the flame and smoke during ignition, after removing the charred kiln bricks and buckwheat husks, a ceramic sculpture with cosmic brilliance that shines radiantly is revealed. This is the creative process of the famous Japanese artist Tomonari Hashimoto, and it is also his unique way of finding and presenting the essence of everything in the universe.

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Tomonari Hashimoto was born in Wakayama. After completing his undergraduate degree of Fine Arts, he carried on and completed a master's degree and a PhD degree from Kanazawa University of Arts and Technology within five years. At the age of twenty-seven, in addition to completing all the academic milestones in one go, he has already made his mark in the ceramics industry ; won several domestic awards, artworks being collected by various internationally renowned museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum. Hashimoto's dedicated research in ceramic creation, led him to enter the finalist of the Loewe Craft Prize in 2019. With his unique works, he was recognized as  "an artist who can create extraordinary aesthetic values".

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During the creative process, Tomonari Hashimoto coils the clay and then fires it three times , which is considered as the organic repetitive process. This is how he maintains his own discipline and faces the spirit within. In a modern society where consumerism pervades, Hashimoto hopes that his works will become a catalyst for everyone to stop and explore the essence of things, but to face their inner self through self observation.

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Touch Ceramics is proud to showcase Tomonari Hashimoto's solo exhibition "Untitled - Tomonari Hashimoto Solo Exhibition", inviting everyone to experience the thousands of worlds presented by the artist and appreciate this sculpture that pursues the essence of clay.​

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Artist Statement

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When I was young, I was obsessed with things like origami, plastic models, and aged   buddha statues. The mundane activity in my childhood was to see my father making life-sized bronze and plaster sculptures. I was attracted to old and gigantic objects that were beyond my height, and I admire them in a certain way. I also like observing the plants and trees in the garden through the window, not to mention the landscape and mountains that proliferate in the background. 

 

Recently, I have been particularly interested in architecture and Japanese gardens. Everything I experienced when I was young has enlightened and foregrounded my present creations.

I create art-works that primarily eliminate the superficial thoughts and personal feelings, which the final product could ultimately convey the enthusiasm within.  I appreciate and admire the existence of an object as it is and I indeed cherish the space that it occupies.​​​