In the Autum of 2024, “the special exhibition: Ryotaro Kato Hanpaku Memorial Exhibition” was held at Tamesaburo Memorial Museum in Furukawa Art Museum. It was the year of milestone of his turning 50 years old. This exhibition was a monumental his solo exhibition that expressed the full scope of his creative activities, focusing on tea bowls made from Japanese traditional Mino-Momoyama pottery style such as Shino white, Setoguro black, and Oribe green which are Japanese traditional pottery styles. Looking back on his career, we asked him about the beginning of a new chapter as an artist. (Interviewer/Editor: Yuko Tsuruoka)
Enjoying the movement among the basic and application (Shingyosou)
After the “Hanpaku Memorial Exhibition”
Tamesaburo Memorial Museum in Furukawa Art Museum is an art museum consisting a Japanese garden, the main building “Tameshuntei” in Japanese traditional sukiya-style and the teahouse “Chisokuan.” It was a precious experience for me to hold this solo exhibition to exhibit all my works in the quaint and spacious buildings, which is designated as a national registered cultural property. I feel very happy that so many customers came in the space, and touched and looked at my tea bowls. I felt I missed to close the exhibition when the schedule was completed.
This was my first solo exhibition hold at a museum, and I feel it was not perfect exhibition yet. However, I feel I had done everything what I was able to do for the exhibition. I had been planning this solo exhibition for over a year, and I feel that I was able to complete successfully and overcome the milestone of turning 50.
The concept of solo exhibition
Japanese celebrates 100 years old as called “Hakujyu (white celebration)” and I call “Hanpaku (Half white)” as fifty years old. Until now, I have faced our traditional ceramics Mino-Momoyama pottery, and have been creating tea bowls in particular. From here on, I have to shape my work more and I am still on my half way as an artist. The main theme of this exhibition was “Hanpaku (half white)” which means that I want people to see my improvement and my halfway to be an artist.
The exhibition was mainly composed of fifty tea bowls as my age of fifty years. 25 Shino white and Setoguro tea bowls were showed, and the rest of half were other variation tea bowls such as Oribe green and Ruriguro blue back. I also decided to show Sansai three colours as the last exhibited tea bowl. I decided to show it from the beginning of the plan. For arranging, Shino white and Setoguro black were decollated in the large hall creating a space as black and white. It expressed the theme of “Katami kawari (uneven world), like the world of “white and black”, “yin and yang”, “life and death”, “people and nature”, “ego and non-ego” with asymmetrical world which ceramics never have same piece.
The entrance was designed to welcome guests with a large object, which is also my first subject, and I installed my works that combines calligraphy and pottery in the semi-basement tea room. I decollated some tea bowls in the back room and placing jewels on the lanterns in the garden. I displayed small sculptural incense containers in a small room instead of tea bowls. These containers were animal designed.
For me, the true essence of my work is tea bowls. Shino white and Setoguro black are the main subjects. Then I create a wide range of works, such as Oribe green and Rurikuro blue black, objects, incense containers and calligraphy. These works are like built up my philosophy and all essence of my works comes to Shino and Setoguro tea bowls. I would be very happy if the visitors of my solo exhibition felt all of my creative activities throughout the spaces.
Conversation with tea bowls
In this solo exhibition, I wanted to hold an exhibition which visitors touch and look at the tea bowls directory. In normal museums, the tea bowls are usually displayed in cases for safety reasons, but the cases were removed and visitors could touch the tea bowls when I attended there. The visitors seemed very happy to be able to hold the tea bowls on their hand directory.
One and half month at the period of the exhibition, we had over 5,000 people to visit. It seems that each person found different parts for their interesting. Some people were interested in the inscription and others found the color or texture for their interesting. I couldn’t be happier if visitors had a chance to be interested in the fun of pottery at this exhibition.
More run, more breaks
Challenges and changes
On the theme of fifty new bowls, some new techniques were born. For example, Kaki Oribe brown is one of them. Also, I felt that my own artistic identity was rebuilding in the exhibition. I expressed the whole space of the place, not only works. I think it was a beginning of changes for my future.
In terms of my works, Nezumi Shino grey tea bowl “Yuki-Fumi” and Shino white tea bowl “Igarashi” were the works that I had strong sense of rebuilding. New different taste of my works is born with hard challenging with my basic. I’m now fifty years old, but as I am an artist, I cannot settle down and to be conservative for my works and I need to be more aggressive for creating. No matter what I create, I feel it will go to the same direction.
I believe that this exhibition has given me a foothold towards my next milestone, sixty years old. I will continue to create my work with my all experiences including my daily life and running in Kobeigama.
