Ryota Shioya

I am a ceramic artist. I have been aiming at representing “formlessness” such as “monogoshi (demeanor)” and “tatazumai (atmosphere)” as “things with form” in recent years. The title of my works “Monogoshi” is an object, a person, and an existence equipped with a “tatazumai (atmosphere).” Generally speaking, neither “monogoshi (demeanor)” nor “tatazumai (atmosphere)” emerges in concrete form. They are like signs or moods surrounding things and people. I think “movement” or “motion” is important for “formlessness.” In my view, it is the “movement” related to the work that jolts the viewer’s mind. This may have to do largely with the fact that, as a ceramic artist, I use a potter’s wheel. When shaping the clay on the potter’s wheel, the tiniest movement of my body directly affects the form and emerges as a sugata (aspect) reflecting the my mind and subtleties of emotion. Such a “sugata (aspect)” does not refer to the actual form of the object but to the state of something equipped with a certain tatazumai (atmosphere), which, while being a thing, seems to be breathing like a person. I emphasize as the truthlikeness, i.e. reality, in creating forms is the “sugata (aspect)” brought about by the physical object, which emerges as an expression of the my mind and emotions, and its presence.