Nagae Shigekazu

View Nagae Shigekazu’s works featured on Ceramics Now Magazine

Nagae Shigekazu (born in 1953), is one of the leading pioneers of porcelain casting and firing techniques in Japan. Casting is commonly associated with the mass production of porcelain, yet Nagae valiantly transcends this stereotype, ultimately elevating this technique to the avant-garde. Casting alone cannot achieve the natural movements found within Nagae’s forms. In fact, the intensity of his gas-kiln fires help mould, shape and curve his delicate white porcelain, thereby giving birth to sleek and razor-thin silhouettes that have become Nagae trademarks.

His popularity and recognition as an artist have skyrocketed, with acquisitions by the V&A in London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Australia in just the past 3 years. Also collected by leading institutions such as the Musée National de Ceramique-Sèvres in Paris and the Musée Ariana in Geneva, among others, as well as receiving prestigious awards such as the Grand Prixs at the 1998 Triennale de la Porcelain in Nyon, the Mino Ceramic Festival and the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition (both 1997), Nagae’s stature and respect in the world of porcelain has reached new heights.

Nagae’s latest works, his first since 2005, test the limits of his ingenious porcelain casting techniques, and are the culmination of his extensive experiments and research into the qualities of both clay and fire. Called Tsuranari no Katachi (Forms in Succession), they are essentially porcelain objects that contain individually casted porcelain shapes that are attached together. After each separate shape is slip-casted through a bisque-firing, they are combined by glazing the joints and suspending the work in mid-air within Nagae’s kiln. As the glaze melts and crystalises in the kiln fires, the pieces are successfully attached. Yet at the same time, the luscious draping and tapering of his organic curves are borne through “chance” natural kiln effects.

Nagae Shigekazu’s C.V. (resume) – View his works

PERSONAL HISTORY
2004 – Cultural Prize, Art Selection of Aichi Prefecture, Aichi
2002 – Member, International Ceramics Academy
2002 – Jury member, Beermaglankai 4, sponsored by the Sapporo City Art Foundation,Sapporo
2001 – Jury member, Triennial in Nyon
1999 – Begins work as part-time lecturer at Bunsei Art College
1997 – Begins work as special part-time lecturer of the Special Study Course of Pottery, Seto Ceramics High-school
1974 – Completed the Special Study Course of Ceramics, Seto Ceramics High School
1972 – Graduated from Seto Ceramics High School
1953 – Born in Seto, Aichi, Japan

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 – Yufuku, Tokyo
2010 – Joan B. Mirviss, New York
2008 – Yufuku, Tokyo
2005 – Yufuku, Tokyo
2005 – Gallery Tosai, Tokyo
2001 – Gallery Kai, Tokyo
– Gallery Mozu, Osaka
2000 – Gallery PLANNET, Nagoya
– Gallery Kurimoto, Nagoya
– Galerie Le Vienx-Bourg, Switzerland
– Tile Museum, Tokoname
– Gallery Enbu, Nagoya
1999 – Yufuku, Tokyo
– Gallery Anri, Nagoya
– Meguro Pottey Hall, Yokkaichi
1998 – Yufuku, Tokyo
– Oribe-tei Oh Enkyo, Ichinomiya
– Tosou-an, Nagoya
– Koraku-kama Gallery, Tokyo
1997 – Kato-tei tono Kakawari, Nagoya
– Shirakura,Tokyo
– Dream, Fukuoka
1996 – Gallery Fuu, Nagoya
– Love Collection Gallery, Nagoya
1995 – Kappa’s room, Seto
1993 – Hoshino Book Shop Gallery, Nagoya
1992 – Abanti, Tokyo
1991 – One Two One, Nagoya
– Gallery m, Tokyo
– San Gallery Sumie, Nagoya
1990 – Gallery IF, Tokyo
– Seto Culture Center, Seto
– JC Gallery,Tokyo
1989 – Lobby of Ohara-ryu Hall 1F, Tokyo
– Kawatoku Diamond Hall, Morioka
1988 – Atelier Nouveau, Tokyo
– Inui Gallery, Tokyo
1986 – Maruzen, Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto and Fukuoka
– Fujiyoshi Gallery, Utsunomiya
– Seibu Department Store, Ikebukuro, Tokyo
1984 – Gallery Akane, Nagoya
– Gallery Sancrayon,Nagoya
1983 – Maruei Craft Gallery in Nagoya
– Gallery America, Tokyo
– Work Up, Niigata

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 – Collect 2010 (Saatchi Gallery, London)
2009 – Collect 2009 (Saatchi Gallery, London)
2008 – Collect 2008 (V&A, London)
2006 – Contemporary Claywork (Avant-garde et tradition du Japon), Muse National de Ceramique, Paris
2006 – Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, New York Japan Society
2006 – 100 Years of the Seika of Japanese Ceramics, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum
2004 – The Seika of Seto Ceramic Art Exhibition, Seto Museum of Art
2003 – World of Porcelain and Celadon, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki
– Challenging Design and Art, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu
2002 – Asia-Pacific Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition, Taipei Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan A Small Universe – Exhibition, Ichinokura Sakazuki Museum, Nagano
2001 – Invited at Triennale in Nyon
– Invited at Museum of Ibaraki Prefecture for “Yakimono of 21st Century” ,Japan
– Recommended to Japan Ceramic Exhibition
1999 – Three-man Porcelain Exhibition, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York
– SOFA (Sculpture Object Functional Art), New York
– Exhibition of 100 Selected Japanese Contemporary Art of Crafts, Mitsukoshi Department Store, Etoile, Paris
1998 – Beautiful, How Wonderful—Presentation of Glaze and Beauty of Pottery, Ceramic Forest of Shiga Prefecture
1997 – One’s Bowl Exhibition, Aichi Pottery and Porcelain Museum
1996 – Rin—Beauty of Contemporary Pottery, Ceramic Forest of Shiga Prefecture Contemporary Pottery Exhibition of Tokai, Nagoya
– Seto Pottery and Porcelain Exhibition, Jingdezhen, China
– Presentation of Pottery—Development in the 1990s, National Modern Art Museum, Tokyo
1995 – Pottery and Porcelain NET November Festival, Seto
1994 – Invited to show at Asahi Contemporary Craft Exhibition, Tokyo and Osaka
– Exhibition of Selected Pottery and Porcelain Artists, Craft Center of Itami City
1992 – Selected Exhibition of Japanese Six Old Pottery Places, Seto Culture Center
1991 – Ceramic Annex Shigaraki’91, Modern Art Museum of Shiga Prefecture Modern Pottery for Tomorrow I, – Furukawa Art Museum, Nagoya Clay—Message in Mino, Tajimi Culture Hall
– Minu Puru Exhibition, Ohara-ryu Hall
– Three-man Exhibition, Kaiseki Horie,Nagoya
– Young Pioneers—Pottery, Craft Center of Itami City
1990 – Asahi Ceramic Exhibition touring in Australia
1989 – Two-man Exhibition with Masahiro Shimizu, Daimaru Department Store, Kyoto
1988 – Zui Exhibition, Electric Culture Hall, Nagoya(in 1990)
– Selected for an exhibition, Café Noir, Belgium
1987 – Flower and Ceramic Art Exhibition, Meitetsu Department Store, Nagoya
1982 – Two-man Exhibition of Pottery and Porcelain
1980 – Exhibition of Ceramics Objects, Sakura Gallery, Nagoya
1979 – Seto three-man Exhibition, Inui Gallery, Tokyo

AWARDS
2009 – Paramita Museum Prize, Japan
1998 – Grand Prix, Triennal de la Porcelain, Nyon, Switzerland
1998 – Grand Prix, Mino Ceramic Festival
1997 – Grand Prix and Katsura no Miya Prize, Japan Ceramic Exhibition
1992 – Grand Prix, Asahi Ceramic Exhibition
1992 – Bronze Medal, Mino Ceramic Festival
1991 – Runner-up, Pottery Biennale
1989 – Special Award, Pottery Biennale
1989 – Excellent Work Prize, Asahi Ceramic Exhibition
1986 – Grand Prix, Chunichi International Pottery Exhibition
1985 – Special Prize, Asahi Contemporary Craft Exhibition
1985 – Fine Work Prize, International Design Fair in Kanazawa
1982 – Pottery Prize, Asahi Ceramic Exhibition
1980 – Selected for Faenza International Pottery Exhibition
1979 – Crand Prix, Chunichi International Pottery Exhibition
1979 – Selected for Faenza International Pottery Exhibition
1979 – Prize “79, Asahi Ceramic Exhibition
1979 – Bronze Medal, Pottery and Porcelain Design Competition
1978 – Incentive Award, Chunichi International Pottery Exhibition
1978 – Selected for Faenza International Pottery Exhibition

MONUMENTS
2004 – Ceramic monument, “Togi” MURO project, Okayama Tsuyama Central Hospital
1997 – Transom, “A Un(alpha and omega), for Touyasan-Jogen Temple of the Soto Sect Wall relief for Hotel Granpia, Kyoto
1995 – Outdoor monument, “Fragrant Form”, in Shimoyama Village,Aichi
1989 – Ceramic monument, “Today—to Tomorrow”, at Nagoya Castel for Design Exposition (Permanently installed in Seto Higashi Park afterward)
1983 – Ceramic walls and decorative tiles for Okayama Culture Hotel

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
– Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
– Cleveland Art Museum, OH
– Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
– Japan Foundation
– Los Angeles County Museum of Art
– Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu
– Musée Nationale de Cèramique, Sèvres
– Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
– Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
– Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
– Seto City Art Museum, Seto
– Shiga Cultural Ceramic Park
– The National Gallery of Australia
– Tokoname City
– Victoria & Albert Museum, London
– Yale University Art Gallery