Fascination of Akira Fujimoto’s Works 

 

Fujimoto’s works imply fascinations that are divergent to conventional pottery works we have been accustomed to. The artist is aware that his manners and methods are unique, and that is probably why his works render an unprecedented impression. 

 

In general, a potter/ceramic artist first learns the basic skills of the medium, and then uses those skills to exemplify images found deep in one’s persona. But in the case of Fujimoto, the artist steps into an Arita kiln without any prejudice of the medium, and inspires himself with everything he sees and experiences there; intaking manufactured products as his materials, and finishing the works by learning necessary skills from the kiln’s craftsmen. He does not have any fixed image of his pottery/ceramic work when he begins; the surrounding context becomes the starting point of his works.
 

Fujimoto’s interest lay in “uncontrollable social/environmental phenomena,” and the artist has been creating works that query the society from this point of view. The ARITA AURA series—triggered from the massive amount of dead-stocks he witnessed at the kiln— lay in the same context. Dead-stocks sitting in a storage were certainly not a situation the kiln had wished for. But while the kiln intently pursued market trends and client orders, they noticed they had ended up carrying a huge volume of dead-stocks, and this kind of uncontrollable phenomenon was what drew Fujimoto’s sympathy and attention. 

 

Countless silk-screen transfer sheets left at the kiln; completed Arita-ware that were never distributed in the market; all these became materials for Fujimoto’s works. Existing patterns and manufactured products are brought to a new life with Fujimoto’s concept and ideas. For example, a traditional dragon drawn by the kiln’s craftsman would then be mixed with Fujimoto’s dramatic platinum pattern applied on top. When the drastically conventional traditions of Arita-ware blends well with Fujimoto’s sensibility, the pottery/ceramic works start diffusing a unique magical power. Arita-ware, which becomes the basis of his works, carry a history of 400 years of skills and styles in its background. It may be the friction caused between the traditions of Arita-ware and Fujimoto’s personality that allow viewers to experience the alluring magical power when seeing his works. Especially for the aesthetic aspect, Fujimoto’s undeniably Japanese DNA seems to intuitively match the conventional beauty of the Arita-ware, fruiting into an enticing enchantment. 

 

The fascination of Fujimoto’s pottery/ceramics seem to maximize when the production location carries a longer history. As though a litmus paper, Fujimoto’s sensibility reacts with the accumulation of products and traditions of the craftsmen, which bring the works to be spawn as a consequent of the site and condition. Almost as a gifted chef creating exquisite cuisines with the local ingredients, Fujimoto’s aesthetic forte continue to enchants us. 

 

​

Yukio Suzuta

Director, 

The Kyushu Ceramic Museum