102. Kouzo Takeuchi  竹内 紘三

Kouzo Takeuchi was born in Hyogo in 1977. He studied at Osaka University of Arts and the Tajimi Municipal Ceramic Design Institute in Gifu. After graduating in 2003, Takeuchi Kozo emerged as one of Japan's leading ceramicists. His creative ideas arose from a fascination with geometric shapes and inspiration from the ancient ruins of South America. His interest in the themes of decay combined with a goal to create beautiful objects creates seductive architectural forms, with surfaces reminiscent of weathered stone, both strong and delicate. In some of his works, he combined porcelain with wood and lacquer. His work is characterised by an accumulation of ceramic tubes and cylinders that he fires and then partially breaks with a hammer. This results in sculptural, almost architectural creations in which both intentional action and accidental consequences merge. The work in bright white contrasts dramatically with the rich shadows emerging from the rough ragged edge of the broken fragments. In other works, he seems to hover between the past and the modern through the clean texture and geometric shapes, but with the appearance of weathered materials, creating a worldview that evokes the passage of time.

Kouzo Takeuchi's works have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions around the world and are part of important museum collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum Sernuschi in Paris and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in Boston.