Hiroshi Sueyoshi: Rock Garden
November 13, 2015 – May 15, 2016
A master of ceramic art, Hiroshi Sueyoshi has worked with clay for over 40 years. His aesthetic is grounded in traditional Japanese culture, having begun as an apprentice in Mashiko, Japan, an important center of folk pottery. After completing his training there, he moved to the United States, working in pottery production in Asheboro and Seagrove, North Carolina, and further training in the Washington, D.C. area with the legendary Teruo Hara. His cited major influences include Hara, as well as Isamu Noguchi, Peter Voulkos and Shoji Hamada, revealing his interest in the sculptural and expressionist possibilities of the vessel while rooted in Japanese culture’s reverence of nature.
Rock Garden is Sueyoshi’s interpretation of a Zen garden. Twenty-two stoneware coil and hand built “rocks”and four slip cast face masks occupy the floor and float in the space above it. He notes, “Meditation rooms make you think about your surroundings and environment. The faces in the rocks represent man’s relationship to nature. The four face masks in the wall represent meditation, when you meditate everything fades away.”
