Well folks it is the holiday season, friends are in town, snowboarding to be done, and lots of art to be made for my upcoming show at the Ceretana in March/April. So all this means that this post is a bit late and the show is over and you cannot see it ever again, except for on artmelt.net, so HA!
Kensuke Yamada was or is a UM Grad Student with a emphasis in ceramics. All the work of his I have seen are very large, hand-built figures, including the MFA show at the UC Gallery. His recent MFA Thesis exhibition at the GVA, titled Empathetic, is no exception. The show contains about 7 large ceramic sculptures, most of which are glazed with an elegant yet simplistic patterning of stripes, polka dots, and pastel colors. The alienated forms, patterning and color scheme reminds me of Picasso's early paintings of circus folk, such as the painting Family of Saltimbanques. His artist statement is simple and to sum it up he is interested in creating an emotional relationship between art and viewer. I beleive that through the scale, isolation and emotive expressions of his figures this task is accomplished.
The sparse nature of the gallery layout with a few dark corners also reenforces the emotional landscape, however the question is "is the minimal amount of work part of the design or just a desire to move on from school?" One of the most intriguing pieces was a sculpture containing an 8 foot figure with a 4 inch figure. The contrast in scale certainly evokes an emotional response. In addition, the large figure was actually wet to the touch...now is this some kind of way to ad to the emotive content by referencing the wet, the damp, the dank, the slimy? or was it simply not finished? I think the sculpture is a succesful piece of art and I am all about an unfinished aestetic, but I also feel that this piece being the only one with out a glazed surface seems a little out of place with the rest of the exhibit. Either way I was impressed by the show and rather enjoy Yamada's style.
Ultimately, as a 2005 UM alumni I certainly understand the desire for exodus from the education system. Being in school from before we can remember us crazy artists get a little antsy and are ready to get out and emerse ourselves in the real world - where we get to find out what it really means to be a creative individual. So good luck I say to Kensuke Yamada! He is off to reside at the Archie Bray so I am sure us Montanans will have the honor to see more work from this great ceramic artist.
More pics after the jump....
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