AMART
AMART by AMAHARE
Just as the landscape of rocks changes beautifully as it continues to rains, keeping in touch with yourself will feel mentally satisfied.
AMART is a brand that creates such an opportunity with artists, you, and AMAHARE.
AMART @amart.amahare
ARTIST
- Atsushi Funakushi / 船串篤司 @atsushifuna
- Yuko Ikeda / 池田優子 @yuko_ikeda_pottery
- Masayuki Miyagi / 宮城正幸 @miyagimasayuki @miyagipottery
- Takeshi Tsujino / 辻野剛 @takeshi_tsujino
- Shouya Grigg / 翔矢 @shouyagrigg
- Shimoo Design / 下尾和彦・さおり @shimookazuhiko @saorishimoo
- Norihisa Mizuta / 水田典寿 @n.mizuta
Sekimori-ishi is a stone placed in a garden and indicates a route that should not be taken.
"Don't go beyond where this stone is placed."
It has the role of communicating the request from the host.
A few months after I consulted with Mr. Ikeda about AMART, I received a photo.
I was very surprised to see her unique bright blue Sekimori stone in the photo.
I had the opportunity to talk about the identity of the Japanese with her before. She teached me that Sekimori-ishi is a tool that symbolizes the Japanese profundity of communicating the feelings of the host to the guests through the stone.
I fell in love with her sensibility that made it as an object.
In this exhibition, you can see Sekimori-ishi in various shapes and colors.
Please take a look.
His work is very modern that it is also popular in overseas galleries.
In addition to modern bottle-shaped vases, he is also trying to create new artwork for AMART's exhibition.
When I had a meeting in Kasama, I was impressed his words.
"Of course, the Japanese crafts placed in the Western-style interior are wonderful, but I think the minimalist world view born from the aesthetic sense of Japan is also cool."
While I can't get his words out of my head, I kept thinking about what kind of space should be created for AMART.
One day, I had the opportunity to go to a nice tea-ceremony house. At there, finally I was able to connect his words and images.
A combination of shoji latticed and his vase.
I feel that it is a clean and beautiful space.
When I first saw his work, I had an impressed feeling that I had never seen before.
I must have been very excited in front of his work with a strong view of life and death, but for some reason my heart was very quiet.
Speaking of his masterpiece, a wood carving work with an animal motif such as a bird.
If anything, I think his work is mostly Western-style.
I was wondering if such works would be exhibited for this exhibition, but I was betrayed by him, in a good way.
He used the trees in his garden to create a large piece of horn carving.
Looking at the work in natural light, I feel that even the shade of the tree is part of the object.
It is a quiet and enthusiastic work that awakens the Japanese sensibility to love the shadows.
When there was only natural light and candlelight, what did the glass tableware look like through that light?
I've lined up a lot of his abyss collections in this place where the soft light coming through the shoji is so comfortable.
The one that transmit light beautifully.
The one that keeps the light inside and the whole picture is not clear.
The one that doesn't even distinguish colors.
At first glance, it ’s his work without nationality but if you know the relationship between light and the work, you can see that the Japanese "Wabi" sensibility is hidden.
Shimoo Design・Kazuhiko and Saori Shimoo
Their Fuyou plates are very popular in Michelin-starred restaurants, but I think their true value lies in the large furniture and objects.
In this exhibition, in addition to furniture such as dining tables and Ryurei-joku, Fuyou Wall Art will also be exhibited.
The frame is made with Fuyou finish, and the mirror part is finished in his own refined atmosphere.
Rather than seeing yourself in the mirror, please enjoy the world trimmed by the mirror against the background of the scenery reflected by chance.
Do you know the pottery jar made in the Yaeyama Islands called "Panari ware"?
After learning about its existence, I became fascinated by the easy-going shape and soft expression of Panari ware.
Every time I met him, I was talking about Panari ware, and I wanted to introduce an object that symbolizes Okinawan culture.
The other day, his work to be exhibited at AMART, which I was looking forward to, arrive from Okinawa.
What came out of the box was a jar with a relaxing and slow atmosphere.
From that work, I felt the generosity of Panari ware.
When I told him my impressions, I got a reply like that.
"I am making every day aiming for a pottery that coexists with the feeling of panari ware, softness, generosity, and the strength in it."
The "engawa", which is the intermediate area between the inside and the outside, is a space where both Japanese architecture like a tea room and Okinawan architecture exist.
The "engawa" where you can feel the breeze while bathing in a soft day is surely a favorite place for all Japanese people.
When I saw this wide ”engawa", I suddenly imagined him sitting here with a smile, and I put down the jar, which is also his alter ego.
Doesn't it look comfortable?
One of the people who inspired me to start a brand called AMART is creative director and photo artist Shouya Grigg.
I first saw his work about three years ago.
At his restaurant & gallery in Niseko called "SOMOZA", I was fascinated by his work and the space of SOMOZA as a whole, and I wanted to meet the person who made it.
He is also participating in the KURO project, but this exhibition will feature large works that have never been exhibited and folding screens that he has retouched himself.
It may be the first time that so many of his works have been exhibited in Tokyo.
I would like everyone to see the work that captures the moment when he was connected to nature.
Standing in front of his work reminds us of important things that we Japanese have forgotten, such as wabi-sabi and how we relate to nature.
Click here for AMART artists / works
photo_Yuka Yanazume @yuka_yanazume