'大壺、小壺 - O-tsubo, Ko-tsubo' Solo Show by Akiko Hirai

Akiko Hirai [Solo Show]

O-Tsubo Ko-Tsubo

大 壺 、小 壺

1.

Akiko Hirai [Solo Show]

25th June - 15th September 2020

We are delighted to share with you Akiko Hirai’s solo exhibition, O-Tsubo Ko-Tsubo, at Flow Gallery.

Photographed by Beth Evans and Chloé Rosetta Bell.

Publication designed by Chloé Rosetta Bell.

table of contents 7. introduction

by Akiko Hirai

8. an ineffable sense of rightness Essay by Marina Vaizey CBE

13. price list

introduction

by Akiko Hirai “I have a small collection of old Japanese magazines called Bessatsu Taiyo (別冊太陽). Each issue features a creative field; theatre plays, photography, pottery, literature, architecture.

Within the subject there is always a specific focus on topics, objects or people. One of my favourite issues is called O-Tsubo, Ko-Tsubo. It translates big jars and small jars. I have had it more than a quarter of a century and have now read it so many times the pages are falling apart. Unfortunately, it is no longer published and you can only get second hand, back copies, which are very hard to come by. Most of the jars featured in these pages are antiques and wood fired. Over the years I have studied the surfaces of these

jars and spent time replicating the effects their marks and textures using my gas kiln. Since my time as a student, these pages have offered me so much inspiration and insight into surface qualities, teaching me mostly about the chemistry of raw materials.

I have had so many unsuccessful attempts at re-creating the surfaces of these jars, however, these failed attempts produced what now defines my work; ‘antique like, but not quite’ pots, which are more contemporary than traditional. The pieces I make have a kind of antiquity, yet I can cherry pick the effect I like. They are no longer imitations of an ancient wood fired pots, but my unique pots.”

P H O T O G R A P H Y Chloé Bell

7.

an ineffable sense of rightness WO R D S Art Critic, Curator & Collector Marina Vaizey CBE P H O T O G R A P H Y Portrait by Beth Evans

Akiko Hirai explores an absorbingly subtle area - hints of the pragmatic and the practical in terms of shape and form, an embrace of intelligent and sensuous variation in glaze, surface, colour, that belies the quotidian and utilitarian.

Colour is often in a range of silvery greys, a transformation of the domestically familiar into art. The shapes are classic, and hint at both tradition, especially from the east, where ceramics have always been revered, and the domestic, both east and west. Thus there are moon jars, vessels, tea bowls, receptacles of all kinds. And deliberately as Akiko Hirai has written, nothing is perfect; the paradox is that for this observer and all who appreciate Hirai’s work everything is, in its almost perfection, profoundly satisfying. Each piece carries visually the history of its making.

Perfection may be cold. I have a small bowl, rough in texture, characteristically in celadon with a bronzed rim by Lucie Rie, with a tiny chip in the rim, rim of colour with endlessly variable small rivulets into the body of the bowl. She had sent the bowl to the gallery to be exhibited and sold. When the artist was queried to by the gallery about this minute chip taken as a conventional sign of damage she said that chip is just fine

What her art gives – almost impossible to put into words – is that ineffable sense of rightness. Sometimes it really can be used; my Akiko Hirai coffee cup is generous in capacity but more than that, has something difficult to describe but easy to access, that it is just right in feel, appearance, as good to look at on its shelf as to fulfil its domestic purpose.

9.

And on the shelf - moon jars and tea bowls and vessels, receptacles, all hinting at their long and honourable lineage, yet also absolutely contemporary. These achievements stem from what great ceramicists always cope with, endless failures out of the kiln when unexpected accidents, conditions, flaring temperatures, confound hopes and expectations.

Sometimes the unexpected adds - beautifully and unexpectedly.

Sometimes there are objects that the artist just has to throw - away - or the materials recycled. All of these happenings add to knowledge and skill. Perfection is static, immovable, unyielding; imperfection is life., the circle that is not quite perfect, the glaze under control that suddenly takes a tiny unexpected journey, the colours that gleam and glisten in unexpected ways, in short, the hand-made, but made by hand with a skill that has grown through time, through repetition and variation.

Akiko Hirai’s great skill allows for spontaneity, improvisation, rescues

and the unexpected. Other media can allow for this too, the interplay between precision and expectation and plan and something going awry in a way that actually expands achievement. It is not her medium that allows this but her artistry.

And the results here are quietly beguiling, endlessly fascinating, and quiet insinuating delights. Delights to hold delights to look at, and always quietly changing in different lights and times of the day. There is a huge repertoire in a deliberate limitation, in terms of tone, colour and hue, typically a range of silvery greys. The results of her work add happiness, enhance my daily life.

Akiko herself can speak of techniques, working practices, failures and what she might regard as success. But those who share their own spaces with some of her work can bear witness to the special pleasure and enjoyment their complex simplicity provides.

11.

price list

by Akiko Hirai O-Tsubo Ko-Tsubo

大 壺 、小 壺

Amamori Vase Matt D 17.5 x H 18cm £310.00

Amamori Vase Shiny D 16 x H 14cm £260.00

OK-AH02

OK-AH03

OK-AH01

Amamori Vase Speckle D 14 x 14cm £160.00 13.

Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 29 x H 18cm £390.00

OK-AH04

Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 16 x H 12.5cm £155.00

OK-AH06

OK-AH05

Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 26 x 18cm £295.00

Dry Kohiki Jug Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 13 x H 13cm £270.00

OK-AH07

OK-AH08, AH09 Dry Kohiki Tea Pots Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Large D 16 x 26cm £270.00

15.

Dry Kohiki Yunomis OK-AH10, AH11, AH12 Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 9 x H 9.5cm £80.00

OK-AH13, AH14 , AH15 Dry Kohiki Cups Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 9 x 9.5cm £85.00

Dry Kohiki Beer Mugs Flower Facet Grey D 8 x 11.5cm £85.00

Dry Kohiki Beer Mugs Flower Petal Horizontal Grey D 8 x 11.5cm £85.00

OK-AH18, AH19

Dry Kohiki Mugs Facet White D 10 x 8cm £85.00

OK-AH20, AH21

17.

Tsubo Mini D 15 x H 16cm £260.00

OK-AH22

OK-AH23

Tsubo Small D20 x 23cm £780.00

OK-AH24

Tsubo Medium D 37 x 42cm £2,600.00

19.

Sake Bottle Large D 12 x 15cm £260.00

OK-AH25, AH26

Sake Choko D 6.5 x 5cm, £80.00

OK-AH27, AH28

21.

Micro Moon Jar D 13.5 x H 12.5cm £320.00

OK-AH29

OK-AH30

Micro Moon Jar D16 x 13cm £320.00

Micro Moon Jar D 14 x H 13cm £320.00

OK-AH31

OK-AH32

Micro Moon Jar D15 x 13cm £320.00

23.

Mini Moon Jar D 22 x H 22cm £910.00

OK-AH33

OK-AH34

Moon Jar Medium H 41 x D 40cm £3,250.00

Moon Jar Medium D 49 x H 46cm £3,900.00

OK-AH35

OK-AH36

Medium/Small Moon Jar D 34 x H 45cm £2,860.00

White Tsubo Large Crackle D 34 x H 36cm £1,300.00

OK-AH37

White Tsubo D 21 x H 27cm £1,300.00

OK-AH39

Tsubo Large D 49 x H 49cm £3,250.00

27.

OK-AH40

Extra Large Moon Jar D 56 x H 66cm £6,500.00

29.

White Faceted Bowls D 13 x H 8 cm £90.00

Tea Bowl D 13.5 x H 6.5cm £310.00

OK-AH42, AH43, AH44

OK-AH41

OK-AH203, AH205

Dry Kohiki Small Bowls Flower Petal Grey D 11.5 x H 8cm £104.00

White Still Life Bottles D 4.5 x H 21cm £105.00

D 5 x H 24cm £130.00 D 5.5 x H 29cm £155.00

Grey Still Life Bottles D 5 x H 30cm

D 5 x H 25cm

£165.00 £130.00

31.

P RICE L IS T

Code

OK-AH04 OK-AH05

OK-AH08 OK-AH09 OK-AH10 OK-AH11 OK-AH12 OK-AH13

OK-AH15 OK-AH16 OK-AH17 OK-AH18 OK-AH19 OK-AH20 OK-AH21 OK-AH22 OK-AH23 OK-AH24 OK-AH25 OK-AH26 OK-AH27 OK-AH28

OK-AH31 OK-AH32 OK-AH33 OK-AH34 OK-AH35 OK-AH36 OK-AH37

OK-AH42 OK-AH43

OK AH224

Title

Size

Price

Amamori Vase Matt Amamori Vase Shiny Amamori Vse Speckle Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Tsubo Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Jug Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Tea Pot Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Large Dry Kohiki Tea Pot Flower Petal Horizontal Grey Large Dry Kohiki Yunomi Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Yunomi Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Yunomi Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Cup Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Cup Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Cup Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Beer Mug Flower Facet Grey Dry Kohiki Beer Mug Flower Facet Grey Dry Kohiki Beer Mug Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Beer Mug Flower Petal horizontal Grey Dry Kohiki Mug Facet White Dry Kohiki Mug Facet White Tsubo mini Tsubo small Tsubo medium Sake Bottle Large Sake Bottle Large Sake Choko Sake Choko Micro Moon Jar Micro Moon Jar Micro Moon Jar Micro Moon Jar Mini Moon Jar Moon Jar Medium Moon Jar Medium Moon Jar Small/Medium White Tsubo Large Crackle White Tsubo Tsubo Large Extra Large Moon Jar Tea bowl White faceted bowl White faceted bowl White faceted bowl Dry Kohiki Small Bowl Flower Grey Dry Kohiki Small Bowl Flower Grey White Still Life Bottle White Still Life Bottle Grey Still Life Bottle Grey Still Life Bottle White Still Life Bottle

D 17.5 x H 18cm D 16 x H 14cm D 14 x 14cm D 29 x H 18cm D 26 x H 18cm D 16 x H 12.5cm D 13 x H 13cm D 16 x H 26 cm D 15 x H 26 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 9 x H 9.5 cm D 8 x H 11.5 cm D 8 x H 11.5 cm D 8 x H 11.5 cm D 8 x H 11.5 cm D 10 x H 8 cm D 8 x H 11 cm D 15 x H 16cm D 20 x H 23cm D 37 x H 42cm D 12 x H 15 cm D 11 x H 15 cm D 6.5 x H 5 cm D 6 x H 5 cm D 13.5 x H 12.5cm D 16 x H 13cm D 14 x H 13 cm D 15 x H 13cm D 22 x H 22cm H 41 x D 40cm D 49 x H 46cm D 34 x H 45cm D 34 x H 36 cm D 21 x H 27 cm D 49 x H 49cm D 56 x H 66cm D 13.5 x 6.5 cms D 13 x H 8 cm D 13 x H 8 cm D 13 x H 8 cm D11.5x H 8 cms D 11.5x H 8 cms D 4.5x H 21 cms D 5 x H 24 cms D 5 x H 30 cms D 5 x H 25 cms D 5.5 x H 29 cm

£310.00 £260.00 £160.00 £390.00 £285.00 £155.00 £270.00 £270.00 £270.00 £80.00 £80.00 £80.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £85.00 £260.00 £780.00 £2,600.00 £260.00 £260.00 £80.00 £80.00 £320.00 £320.00 £320.00 £320.00 £910.00 £3,250.00 £3,900.00 £2,860.00 £1,300.00 £780.00 £3,250.00 £6,500.00 £310.00 £90.00 £90.00 £90.00 £105.00 £105.00 £105.00 £130.00 £165.00 £130.00 £155.00 33.

Flow is a renowned contemporary craft gallery situated in the heart of Notting Hill and was established by Yvonna Demczynska in 1999. the gallery features around six exhibitions a year as well as having a permanent collection, curated

by Flow as well as guest curators, and includes ceramic, wooden and metal objects and jewellery.