Kenji TOKI Lacquer Art Solo Exhibition 6 - 21.5.2023

Curated and presented by The Gallery by SOIL

In collaboration with Wamono Art

Artist Statement

Based in Japan, I have been working as a contemporary craft practitioner exploring the expression of URUSHI (Japanese lacquer) and exhibiting internationally since 1995. Throughout my career and now as a professor researching into the material, I have always been focusing on URUSHI handwork alongside hybridity with new materials and technology. Among the various methods of URUSHI craft, I have been intrigued at the possibility and capability in KANSHITSU because it can be freely shaped working with various other materials and techniques. As the famous Auguste Rodin praised KANSHITSU, the form-making method, it was quite unique, but almost died out for more than 1,300 years, except in the craft domain. The material is built up through layers of hemp fiber cloth and hardened with URUSHI for structural rigidity. During my Ph.D. research into the V&A's URUSHI collection, I came across Masaya Suzuki's works made in the 1970s, which are URUSHI on acrylic resin, and I found his hybridity with URUSHI and new materials and techniques that were not part of the craft context in the era very exciting. When I was a research fellow at an art college in the UK, I was impressed by the fact that people in craft and product design communicate with each other on the same platform. There, everyone was using digital tools as a matter of course.

These experiences naturally lead me towards digital tools.

For me, who can design using software, using a computer is no different from adjusting and tuning URUSHI tools such as brushes, spatulas and whetstones as physical tools.

Whether it is a digital process or physical one is no longer an important issue in contemporary craft expression. I really wonder who can draw a line between digital work and hand work as both methods are defined by your creativity.

Despite a strong interest in digital creativity which has huge possibilities and capability as a form finding method, I will never abandon handwork. I cannot because craftsmanship certainly exists in craft, and also does so in digital creativity.

扎根於日本，我以當代工藝的角度探索漆藝，作品自1995年在國際上展出。我現職教授物料的研究，一直專注「大漆」這一門手藝，同時探索如何可把「大漆」結合新材料和技術。

在漆藝的各種技法中，乾漆的可塑性最使我響往，因為在塑形上它可以不受限制，我可以自由地應用在各種物料和素材上。正如著名的雕塑家- 奧古斯特·羅丹都贊同漆藝獨特的可塑性，可惜的是這技術應用過去只見在工藝領域上，幾乎絕跡了1300多年。以多重的麻布堆疊，再用漆塗抹以提高作品結構上的韌性，實在是很獨特的物料。

我攻讀博士學位期間，研究英國V&A 博物館的漆藝收藏時，發現了鈴木雅也先生在1970年代的作品，他把漆藝應用在丙烯酸樹脂上，結合了不屬於當時工藝脈絡的材料和技術，這種造法令人相當興奮。

在英國的藝術學院擔任研究員時，我常見工藝人和產品設計師常常相互交流，給我留下深刻的印象。科技應用於工藝中是平常不過的事情。

這些經歷都自然地引導我接觸科技。

人類可以利用電腦來設計程式，其工序如使用塗漆的工具無異，尤如使用一把刷、一抹刀、一塊磨刀石，我們都是按步就班，不斷調節和靈活運用。

我認為無論是電腦程式，或人手操控的，在當代工藝的表現上已經不是一道重要的議題。我亦懷疑誰可以將科技和手藝完全劃清界線，因為這兩種渠道都可以是藝術表達的方式，而且都由我們的創意所支配。

儘管對創新科技有著濃厚的興趣，我為作品塑形時，我依然不會捨棄傳統工藝。我不能，因為匠人精神蘊藏於工藝裡，而我深信同時也可存於新媒體。

Kenji TOKI

Kenji Toki graduated in 1994 from Urushi lacquering at the Department of Crafts, Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan and obtained his master's degree in 1996. He lectured the Urushi lacquering at Kyoto City University of Arts from 1996 to 1998, he graduated from Doctoral course in 2013.

Toki exhibited his works in the galleries and museums in Japan and overseas from 1998, namely INAX Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College in Surrey, UK and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France. His art creations are collected by Kyoto Prefectural Education Center in Kyoto, Japan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK, Canadian Museum of History in Quebec, Canada and Museo de Arte Moderno La Casa de Japan in San Isidro, Argentina.

Toki is an artist who creates without the boundary between tradition and innovation. He applies Kanshitsu during his creation, a traditional method applying urushi tree sap to the structure of hemp fibers. The resulting material is then laser-cut and the parts are connected using three-dimensional software and structures developed by Toki himself.

“In Japan, urushi is understood in the context of crafts, and there is a tendency to emphasize the artistic skills of craftsmen and the artist's aesthetic sense, but I am more interested in the strength of the material image of Urushi itself. ”

土岐謙次

土岐謙次於1994年畢業於日本京都市立藝術大學工藝系漆藝系，並於1996年獲得碩士學位。1996年至1998年期間，他在京都市立藝術大學講授漆藝，於2013年獲得博士學位。

自1998年起，土岐在日本及海外的美術館和博物館中展出作品，如日本東京的 INAX Gallery、英國薩里郡大學的藝術與設計學院和法國巴黎的Musée des Arts Décoratifs。他的作品被日本及海外多處收藏如日本京都的京都府教育中心、美國紐約的大都會藝術博物館、英國倫敦的V&A博物館和加拿大魁北克的加拿大歷史博物館。

土岐的創作超越了傳統與創新之間的界限。他在創作過程中使用了傳統幹漆技法，將漆樹液塗於麻纖上。其後土岐會對所得材料進行激光切割，並使用由他本人研發的三維軟件和結構重組材料。

「在日本，漆是在工藝語境下被認知的，其中強調的是漆藝家的藝術技能和審美意識，而我對漆作為材料本身的力量更感興趣。」