Found in Nature

In 2005, the ceramist Shigeru Otani began working under the name Otani Workshop. He established his practice in Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, a town historically renowned for its ceramic production, where he worked for nearly a decade before moving his studio to a former ceramic tile factory on Awaji Island. Otani, who previously assisted the artist Yoshimoto Nara, combines traditional Japanese craftsmanship with contemporary culture, exploring the relationship between ceramics and sculpture. Inspired by nature, the present works, Lion Head and Netherworld Resident, feature muted palettes and textured surfaces. The figures, which are coil-built with rough, local clay, are seemingly simple in form, evoking pre-historic, anthropological objects. The present works were included in the group exhibition Kazunori Hamana, Yuji Ueda, and Otani Workshop, curated by Takashi Murakami at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles (2015) and New York (2016). Having previously exhibited his work primarily within Japan, the exhibition presented Otani's work to an international audience.