September 2020
(New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong—September 3, 2020) David Zwirner is pleased to announce the gallery’s representation of the Japanese-born, Los Angeles–based artist Shio Kusaka. Kusaka has become known for her playful and open approach to the ceramic medium, crafting vessels and figures that are both functional and abstract. Painting and incising on thrown porcelain and stoneware surfaces, Kusaka merges sculpture and drawing while asserting the role of ceramics within the realm of contemporary art. In her ceramics, which are often made in distinct series and sometimes displayed in groups, Kusaka embraces organic imperfections and poetic irregularities, relying on her characteristic sense of line and color to articulate unique forms and produce complex patterns with a heightened awareness of difference and repetition. Her work, like that of artists she has cited as influences, including Agnes Martin, Josef Albers, and Ellsworth Kelly, rewards close observation, which reveals layered intricacies and optical qualities through subtle shifts in glazing or decoration. The motifs she combines and recontextualizes—including wood grain and fruit textures, boro stitches and the iconic seigaiha pattern of Japanese textiles, and her children’s infatuation with dinosaurs and other animals—are all influenced by her daily life. Process-oriented titles, composed of terms such as “carved” or “line” followed by a number, reveal the tactility of Kusaka’s work. David Zwirner states: “I’ve been a huge fan of Shio’s work ever since I first saw it at Anton Kern’s gallery in Chelsea. Few artists have been as successful as Shio in bringing the world of ceramics into the contemporary context. Her interest in and affinity for minimalism, the inherent restraint of her art making, her strength as a colorist, the elegance and thoughtfulness of her presentations, and, last but not least, the mastery of her craft make Shio Kusaka an entirely unique voice within the visual arts. I am excited and honored to be working with her.”
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Image: Installation view, Shio Kusaka, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, 2014