Mitsuo Shoji | Transformation / Henka

Mitsuo Shoji left Japan at 26 and taught, exhibited and lived internationally for almost 50 years. In this context he sees the raw invention of his work born of the tensions between deep cultural heritage and the freedom to push his medium further outwards. Noted as a monumental force in Australian ceramics, Mitsuo Shoji uses dramatic scale and deft brushstrokes to make objects that are as meditative as paintings and as imposing as major sculptures. The “Kaze” series has been recognized globally as an important body of work embodying gesture and resonant form. Works in this series have a depth of glaze and boldness of execution that wrestles between compressed humility and energized expressionism. On every piece, the hand of the artist is present, rushing through like a sculpting fall of water. His innate restraint is also there, paring down the elegant lip of a vase or evoking ploughed earth with the raw edge of fired clay. Sometimes his painting looks like rivers of crushed glass glaze and other times the impact of traditional Japanese brushes on the finest porcelain absorbs like the strokes of a Koan on rice paper.