YUKO NASAKA

Book published on the occasion of the exhibition of Yuko Nasaka at Axel Vervoordt Gallery from March 12 to April 24, 2015.

Though Nasaka underwent a very traditional art education and made work in strong connection with the Japanese tradition of ceramics, her goal was never to restore a tradition—which she greatly respects—but rather to create something new and thus give body to Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara’s credo to “be original and do something that had never been done”.

Her work is perfectly balanced, between the harsh rationality of industrialization and the purity of Japanese tradition and meditation. Like a Japanese philosopher, she is able to express profound thoughts with very simple means. At first glance it may seem slight, but upon deeper reflection, her works are anything but superficial. Nasaka manages to tell a universal story through ordinary things that reflect the moment that is poised on the turnaround of the present.

On the occasion of the exhibition we have published the monograph Yuko Nasaka, containing many unpublished historic photographs of Nasaka in the Gutai period as well as an interview with the artist, conducted by Mizuho Kato and two essays by Gutai specialists Ming Tiampo and Midori Yoshimoto.

Language: English