Porcelain Reshaped

Porcelain – white, silky smooth and glossy – has long been associated with classical refinement in China and later, Japan. But a new generation of artists, born in postwar Japan have changed the look and feel of porcelain ceramics.

A Transformative Art

In place of brightly colored enamel ware that were the rage in the Edo and Meiji periods, modern potters reimagined the sculptural possibilities of porcelain. Some married traditional forms with contemporary visions, while others pushed the limits in exploring porcelain as a medium for contemporary art. In their quest for new expressions, porcelain no longer needs to be a vessel. Instead, it is shaped into abstract forms, twisted into spirals or warped into wave and wing-like forms to evoke nature and poetry in motion.

Featured in this exhibition are examples of this exciting transformation that these artists bring a plastic yet notoriously brittle material.

Exhibition Highlights

All exhibits are from the Museum of Modern Ceramics SG unless indicated.

ITO Hidehito (b. 1971), Large bowl with porcelain with splashes of glaze, H 9 cm x W 24 cm.

A matte white porcelain bowl lightly decorated with splashes of multicolor glazes by Ito Hidehito who is celebrated for his contemporary explorations of traditional-based porcelain. Unlike most Arita porcelain ware, Hidehito’s vessels are characterized by a restraint that brings out the beauty of the medium through the thinness of their walls, delicacy of form, elegant glazing and rippled textures that evoke a sense of movement in the natural world. His works have garnered praise from Japanese aficionados and continue to be well represented in galleries and museums worldwide.

TARUTA Hiroshi (b. 1987), Lid rest, porcelain with linear cutout, H 7 cm x W 11 cm.

Delicate beams of light shines through the porcelain like rays of sun through clouds. This is Hotarude, the signature style of Taruta Hiroshi. Literally meaning “firefly technique,” hotarude involves fine cutouts carved in porcelain covered in a translucent glaze. When fired, the glaze melts over the cutouts, creating a vessel that lets in light like the bright pinpricks of fireflies dancing in the dark.

TARUTA Hiroshi (b. 1987), 'Nu' tea bowl, wood-fired porcelain, H 8 cm x W 11.3 cm.

A translucent white tea bowl by Taruta Hiroshi who is known for his hotarude (fire-fly) technique that allows light to show through carved lines of clay. The technique was also applied to this tea bowl though in a more concealed manner. Other aesthetic features of this bowl are the slightly uneven surface and splashes of light purple from the wood-firing.

KATO Tsubusa (1962-2025), irregular-shaped dish, hand-carved porcelain clay, pale blue celadon glaze, H 3 cm x W 15 cm.

KATO Tsubusa (1962-2025), large plate with jagged edges, porcelain with pale blue celadon glaze, H 7 cm x W 22 cm.

Although he comes from a lineage of potter makers with centuries of history, Kato Tsubusa chose to work in a style that subverts tradition. His functional pieces, like this small plate, are smooth on the surface but otherwise jagged and distorted. The effect preserves the tranquility of porcelain but project an artistic sensibility more akin to that of modern sculpture.

FUKAMI Sueharu (b. 1947), Porcelain ink stand, slip-cast porcelain with seihakuji (bluish-white) glaze, H 4 cm x W 12.5 cm.

Fukami Sueharu is a master of seihakuji, a bluish-white porcelain that he shapes by mold casting into minialist functional ware and soaring blade-like sculptures. He is also a perfectionist. Unlike most potters who desire to leave some marks on their vessels, Fukami takes pains to erase them off his hands, leaving pure unblemished surfaces to speak for themselves.

FUKAMI Sueharu (b. 1947), Sculpture titled 'Ko' (Solemn), 2019, slip-cast porcelain with seihakuji glaze, H 177 cm. Private collection.

MATSUMURA Jun (b. 1986), Sculptural tea bowl from the Shifting Qualia series, H 8 cm x W 15 cm.

Jun Matsumura is recognized for his innovative works in porcelain - a material that is notoriously fragile in raw form. Looking at his pieces is a fantastical and sensory experience. Some of his vessels are carved with wave-like curves, while others feature winged forms that soar into the air. His works are only nominally functional; they are works of art testing that capture the tension between sharpness and fluidity, motion and stillness, fragility and resilience.

MATSUMURA Jun (b. 1986), Winged vessel from the Phantasmic Qualia series, wheel-thrown and hard-carved porcelain, H 13 cm x W 16.8 cm.

A tokkuri by Living National Treasure, Fujiwara Yu showcasing striking orange-red cord markings known as hidasuki. Such patterns are highly prized in Bizen pottery and are created by strapping the vessel with rice straws before firing. During firing, chemicals in the rice straw interact with iron in the clay, producing the distinctive cord-like pattern that is considered a form of yohen or "natural kiln effect."

OHE Shiori (b. 1985), Vessel in the form of an abstract nude figure, matte porcelain, H 14 cm x W 12 cm.

NOGUCHI Isamu (1904-1988), Small torso, marble, late 1950s, H 34 cm, Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, Japan.

Ohe Shiori is a contemporary Japanese ceramicist known for her whimsical take on functional ceramics. Her porcelain works often feature abstract forms and figures as well as vibrant floral motifs. The piece shown here shares an identity with ancient Greek marble sculptures as well modern works they inspired such as “Small Torso” by the celebrated Japanese American artist and designer, Noguchi Isamu (1904-1988).

NAKASHIMA Harumi (b. 1950), Sculptural container, white, blue and silver glazed porcelain, H 16 cm x W 13 cm.

Nakashima Harumi is the maverick of the Japanese ceramics world. His mostly non-functional work features stack balls of white porcelain playfully decorated with his signature blue polka dots. This is one of his rare functional work though the sculptural form betrays that it is actually usable as a container. Nakashima’s avant-garde style is heavily influenced by the innovative Sodeisha Movement which championed ceramics as a medium of sculpture rather than function. His works are popular the world over and can be found in leading museums both in Japan and overseas.

KATO Mami (b. 1963), Sculptural vase, hand-built porcelain slabs, gas-fired, H 19 cm x W 14 cm.

A slab-built sculptural vase by award-winning potter, Kato Mami showing her signature “frost glaze” texture. Kato fires her vessels in a gas-kiln under controlled reduction until they acquire the luminous, icy blue and crackled textures that emulate frozen lakes and glacial meltwater. Kato’s achievements have been recognized across Japan. She won first prize at the Shoroku Chawan Competition in 2015, the first woman to win this coveted award in 24 years.

MURATA Takuya (b. 1982), Torn vessel, white porcelain, wheel-thrown and hand-shaped, H 17 cm x W 16 cm.

A tenth-generation ceramicist, Takuya Murata has spent more than two decades refining his sophisticated approach to porcelain. He shapes and wheel-throws his works by hand and imbues them with color using carefully calibrated mixtures of minerals and tree ash. In search of sheer perfection, he often makes several iterations of each vessel he creates, discarding all but the finest examples. His functional and sculptural pieces are characterized by elegant silhouettes, torn surfaces and flared edges that marry Eastern poetics with modern abstraction.

TANAKA Tomomi (b. 1983), Container titled, ‘Little Dream,’ porcelaneous stoneware, H 6.4 cm x W 7.5 cm.

The works of Tanaka Tomomi are highly organic in form reminiscent of petals, fruits, and seeds. She makes her pieces by meticulously attaching thin strips of clay called lamellas over a central core and then firing them in an electric kiln. Due to the delicate shapes, the firing process requires immense precision to reduce the risk of cracking or warping in the intense heat of the kiln. And because of the labor-intensive nature of her craft, Tomomi’s yearly output is small and her works are highly sought after by collectors. Major institutions that hold her works include the Japan Foundation and the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum. Tanaka was featured as a leading contemporary woman ceramicist in Radical Clay (2023) published by the Art Institute of Chicago.

KINO Satoshi (b. 1987), Spiral Form, 2015, porcelain with celadon glaze, H 34 cm x W 50 cm, Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan.

Originally interested in pursuing a career as a stone sculptor, Kino Satoshi encountered the powerful sculptural ceramics of Nishida Jun (1977-2005) in a retrospective exhibition and turned to ceramics. His abstract porcelain sculptures - resembling long, billowing ribbons of celadon-glazed porcelain - are formed on the wheel through a process of shaving bands of porcelain clay into segments, then manually transforming these thin, attenuated sections into spiral structures that seem to flow into the surrounding space.

SHIGEKAZU Nagae (b. 1953), Untitled sculpture, glaze porcelain, slip-casting technique, H 30 cm x W 50 cm

Born in Aichi Prefecture, Shigekazu Nagae is celebrated for twisted shape sculptures defined by razor-thin curved silhouettes that evoke the movement of paper or wind. A multiple award winner, his demanding works are held in public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Los Angeles County Museum.

TARUTA Hiroshi (b. 1987), Wall hanging piece titled 'A Line of Light', Hotarude technique, bluish-white porcelain, W 27cm x L 27 cm.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, Attesa, 1965, water paint on white canvas, 39.5 x 32.5 cm. Private collection.

A wall hanging piece by Taruta Hiroshi which recalls the iconic “slash painting” of Lucio Fontana except that Taruta’s sculpture allows light to flow through the precisely carved crack. The beauty of this piece is enhanced by tints of seihakuji (bluish-white glaze).

ITABASHI Hiromi (b. 1948), Sculpture titled ‘Prayer’, slip-cast white porcelain, H 70 cm x W 15 cm.

Born Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan, Hiromi Itabashi is one of the most creative and thoughtful artists working in clay today. His encounter with the renowned avant-garde ceramic artist Koie Ryōji (1938-2020) led him to the idea that ceramics are not simply clay hardened by firing but rather objects for aesthetic appreciation. This revelation led him to create works freed of preconceptions of what ceramics should be and focus instead on their invisible essence. Itabashi's oeuvre is extensive in terms of techniques and forms, though white porcelain and chamotte works became his primary focus beginning in the mid-90s.