Takahiro Kondo Condensation

Tokyo Gallery + BTAP is pleased to present Takahiro Kondo's solo exhibition Condensation, starting October 8 (Sat).

Takahiro Kondo was born in 1958 in Kyoto. He has a unique background being raised by his grandfather, Yuzo Kondo, recognized as a Living National Treasure in the craft of sometsuke ceramic decoration, and his father and ceramic artist, Hiroshi Kondo, and becoming part of the Japanese national team as a table tennis player. He began pursuing ceramics at the age of 25, received the Kyoto City Art Newcomer Award in 1994, and completed a master’s course at Edindburgh College of Art, Scotland.

Kondo began his career creating traditional sometsuke works, but later introduced new media such as metal and cast glass, establishing a unique form of artistic expression. In 1993, he created his original and patended technique Silver Mist (gintekisai), in which a mixture of platinum, gold, silver, and glass is crystallized in granular form on ceramic. This technique, which gives porcelain a delicate shimmer and varied appearances due to the drops on the surfaces, is based on the concept of creating water from fire, using clay as its medium.

This exhibition focuses on Silver Mist (gintekisai), and will showcase over a dozen works, both old and new, including Reduction and Wave, which dealt with the theme of water. The seated figure of Reduction was created in response to the impact of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, and is part of the collection of five museums, such as Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Guimet Museum, Paris. A new work on display will be an attempt at recreating a tomb guardian beast originally made with three-color (sancai) glazing, by creating a mold of it to produce a Silver Mist work with the cooperation of Luoyang Museum, China.

Major solo exhibitions include Thoughts on Hands (2017, Kahitsukan, Kyoto Museum of Contemporary Art), Seisui: Vessel Shifting (2016, Setouchi City Museum of Art), Self Portrait (2010, The Museum of Arts and Crafts, Itami), Metamorphose (2007, Kyoto Art Center / Nariwa-cho Museum / Paramita Museum), Takahiro Kondo: New Blue & White (1995, National Museum of Scotland). At Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, he has exhibited in the 2011 Monokeirokemono exhibition, and the 2018 Erasure exhibition held with composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. This is Kondo's first solo exhibition at the gallery.