Friday, November 10, 2017

Whimsical and Artful: The Work of Kensuke Yamada


"Bathing Beauties" 
2014, Stoneware and Underglaze.
"Torso"
2017, Stoneware and Mixed Media.  
Kensuke Yamada is a contemporary ceramic sculpture artist and professor who teaches at Centre College and resides in Danville, Kentucky. After arriving to the United States  to earn his B.F.A. from Evergreen State College in Washington, he went on complete his M.F.A. at the University of Montana. Known for his whimsical figure work that pairs Japanese influence with brightly colored and slipped surfaces, Yamada's work constructs sculptural conversation between the viewer and the figurines he completes, allowing us to examine the space between. The space between nervousness and excitement, learning a new language, immersing yourself in a new culture, diving into new things - finding your way through a foreign place; just as Kensuke experienced after arriving in the United States. This struggle of learning a new language, led him to clay, and ceramics allowed him to find a common dialogue between other people through his artwork. 
"Head"
 2017, Stoneware and Luster.

"Head" 
2016, Stoneware, Silver Luster, and Decals.

"Head"
 2017, Stoneware, Luster, and Decals.
Yamada's process starts with large scale sketches on generic kraft paper. He doesn't display them in galleries, and doesn't  show to others. They merely serve as a sketchbook of sorts to explore, shapes, color, patterns, and form. After completing these drawings, the real work begins, as he translates the drawings into three-dimensional ceramic forms.  The forms themselves are all built hollow; coiling and pinching the shapes as he quickly works upwards. 

"Girl and Travel Bag"
 2015, Stoneware, Underglaze, Slip, and Oxides. 

"Catch the Rabbit"
 2012, Stoneware and Underglaze
"Girl and Rabbit" 
2015, Stoneware and Underglaze.
Kensuke's surfaces are complex; a mishmash of slips, oxides, glazes, and stains, all competing furiously for real estate on a piece, but somehow working harmoniously within the compositions he creates. He enjoys altering surface materials such as watering down and layering underglazes, thus allowing him to customize them and make them truly his own. In the video below, he even takes to applying the non-toxic underglazes with his fingers in lieu of a brush to complete a small polka dot pattern across one of his character's faces. Using a spray bottle, he routinely sprays any applications of underglaze, further deconstructing the surface and not afraid to allow the colors to bleed into the others. These techniques allow him to achieve his signature drippy and dirty style of surface. The distressing on his pieces makes them look like found objects, dug from the earth, the pops of bright colors contrasting sooty limbs. You can really see his aesthetic shine in his layering of glazes and sense the amount of fun he is having exploring these surface designs.  

"Swim"
2013, Stoneware and Underglaze.

"Marching to Oasis"
 2012, Stoneware and Underglaze.

“Hand Full" 
2011, Stoneware, Glaze, Slip, Oxide, Stain.

 “I Hear Things, 2011”
Stoneware, Glaze, Slip, Oxide,Stain, Wood, Latex Paint, Brick, Steel Screw Eye.
Though stripped down in form, the sculptures he creates only show what is necessary, and leaves out all the rest; my favorite part of his work is the surface. Though the form cannot be supported without the surface and vice versa, his point of view is so strong. I am drawn to the surface firstly, but even more enamored with the gesture of the faces in his figures; what they don't say. You keep looking and noticing more as you continue to pay attention. I admire his experience at editing and refining his work, as sometimes with more and more detail, and it can be easy to do too much. Though fairly young in his career, I am excited to keep following Kensuke's work, as I think he has found his right, artful place within the art world. Imagination and wonder are allowed embody that place between our emotions; his sculptures becoming the conduit. 

Video:


(Mini Documentary outlining the making and setting up of Yamada’s Exhibition, “Diving Through Clouds,” at the Cheekwood Estate and Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee where he spent a month as Artist-in-Residence in 2016.)

Sources:
at
Labels: , ,