84. Rie Aizawa アイザワリエ

Aizawa Rie was born in 1994 in Shizuoka, Japan. She studied ceramics at Osaka University of Arts and continued her education at Kasama College of Ceramic Art where she graduated in 2018.
Her work evokes admiration and wonder; they are objects that resemble boulders or objects that have been overgrown by organisms after spending centuries at the bottom of the ocean, such that eventually only a thick coral-like layer remains visible. Occasionally it is still recognizable what lies hidden beneath, a skull, an apple or a camera. But mostly it remains guesswork, it could be a rock or an old shell. Either way, they are objects that appeal to the imagination. Her works consist of a ceramic core, a form on which Aizawa Rie sprays and fires many layers of glazes, a process that repeats itself several times until a thick complex layered skin emerges. The ceramic form hides and with it the assumption that the work is the artist's creation. It becomes a natural object, created by chance and time. A coral reef or something else, that is up to the viewer.
Aizawa Rie is still a young artist, but she is considered a great talent in the world of ceramics, having already won the Excellent Work Award and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at age 24. Aizawa Rie has since received many awards including the 51st Women's Association of Ceramic Art Award in 2017, the 8th Ceramic Art Society of Japan Award in 2021 and the 9th Kikuchi Biennial Collection Award in 2022. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum.