Ep 3 - Ceramics - Kenji Uranishi

FROM THE CERAMICS COLLECTION: KENJI URANISHI

In our third episode, we speak with Japanese ceramic artist Kenji Uranishi.

Kenji moved to Brisbane over 18 years ago, and the freedom he experienced away from his home country allowed for an exciting shift within his practice.

In 2019 Kenji's work was featured in Newcastle Art Gallery's exhibition SODEISHA: connected to Australia. Throughout the conversation, Kenji refers to Sodeisha, an avant-garde movement established in 1948, and some of its founding members, such as Kazuo Yagi, Hikaru Yamada, and Osamu Suzuki.

In this conversation, Kenji discusses his process within the studio, the two identities he navigates as a Japanese artist living in Australia, and the importance of long-term thinking to overcome failure when working with an unruly medium such as ceramics.

Find 'Conversations from the Collection' on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and more.

If you could have dinner with any artist from Newcastle Art Gallery's collection, who would it be? Why?

You can view Kenji's selected artist Kazuo Yagi's work here.

To select your own dinner guest, you can search artists from the collection here.

ABOUT THE CERAMICS COLLECTION

Newcastle Art Gallery's collection includes ceramic works from the 17th century to today, representing both excellence in design and the medium's development as an important contemporary practice unto itself. Since the 1970s, the Gallery has played a leading role in establishing Newcastle as a centre of national significance in ceramics, focusing on works by Australian and Japanese artists.

Find out more about Newcastle Art Gallery's Ceramics collection here.

Newcastle Art Gallery holds two works of art by Kenji Uranishi in our collection.