Shinya Tanoue 田上 真也

Born in 1976 and raised in Kyoto, Tanoue Shinya is marked by Odeisha aesthetics. This group, formed between 1948 and 1998, opposed the Mingei, a popular craft movement dominant in the 20th century. This group intends to break away from all traditional forms of ceramics, and also refuses to submit its productions to the Salon system, in order to obtain greater creative freedom.
Tanoue Shinya works around the shape of the shell; "Kara" is a Japanese word that has a double meaning: it means a shell and also emptiness. The apparent simplicity of the sculpture contains depth and clarity. The shell becomes a container and frames the void. It is this subjective variation of emptiness that we call Ma in Japanese.
As for the technique, the artist uses three types of clay and two pastes, which he bakes twice. He meticulously draws tiny lines along with a blue glaze and darkens parts of the slip. Tanoue Shinya creates linear and simple works of great elegance.
Several examples can be found at the Kyoto Museum and the Hyogo Museum of Ceramic Art, as well as in American museums (Cincinnati, Phoenix, Crocker) as part of the Horvitz Collection of Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Art. At the 19th edition of the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition in Tokyo in 2007, he received the Excellence Award and the Mainichi Newspaper Prize.