Takiguchi Kazuo 滝口和男

Born in 1953 in Gojō-zaka Kyoto, Takiguchi Kazuo is the son of a tableware wholesaler from Gojōzaka, Kyoto, the production center of traditional Kyoto ceramics. After dropping out of university twice, he studied briefly with Kiyomizu Rokubei VI (1901-1980), then with Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979). He also frequented Kondō Yutaka (1932-1983) and Fujihira Shin (1922-2012). It was Yagi's aesthetic and his emphasis on non-traditional sculptural forms that had a lasting impact on Takiguchi.

Years later, he also studied at the Royal College of Arts in London, graduating in 1992. While living abroad, he realized the important role that the Japanese language played in his life and the impact it had on his artistic work. Since then, he has focused on words as a source of inspiration. The artist emphasizes that, just as he is free to use language according to his own desires and needs, he strives to give each work a presence of its own. It is important to him that his works touch the hearts of viewers outside the context of the feature.

His sculpting process is both complex and very creative. Using pulleys, he first flattens a slab of finely pounded clay between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick and spreads it on a canvas. Using pulleys, he then hoists her up and suspends her in the air, molding her into the amoebic shape he desires. When the clay body is dry enough to hold its shape, it opens a hole at the top. His ambitiously abstract forms have made him one of the standard bearers of contemporary Japanese ceramics.