38. Kino Satoshi   木野智史

Kino Satoshi was born in Kyoto in 1987 and studied at Kyoto University of Arts. Initially, he was interested in a career as a sculptor, but after seeing an exhibition of sculptures by Nishida Jun (see no.39), he decided to specialize in ceramics. Although he was inspired by Nishida's powerful ceramic objects, some are more than 1.5 meters tall and weigh more than 1,000 kg, Kino Satoshi soon realized that this did not suit his own aesthetic sensibility. Instead, he chose porcelain, mainly because it can be polished like stone. Rather than working with a mold, he forms a long band on the turntable, which he then cuts into segments and continues to manually polish into a flowing, smoothly sanded ribbon. A airbrush is then used to apply translucent bluish-white (seihakuji) glaze, after which the piece is fired. His sculptures often resemble long, undulating ribbons of celadon-glazed porcelain that merge seamlessly into the surrounding space but which, through the abstraction of form and the delicate neutrality of color and surface, also evoke a tension between object and environment. He also often creates series of work, inspired by the various phases of the moon, or the phases seen in thetransformation of flower buds to flowers. Kino Satoshi's work has been exhibited in numerous important galleries and museums in the past. He has won many awards and is represented in the collections of museums around the world, including the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Fuping International Ceramic Museum Xian, China, the City Council of Marratxí, Spain, the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the International Ceramic Museum in Faenza, Italy and the Kyoto Museum of Art.

Ravine, T21-17KE, 2021 - Kino Satoshi website