Photography by Katsura Hideya
BORN 1973, KYOTO, JAPAN
A leading figure in the second generation of female ceramists to change the landscape of contemporary Japanese clay, FUKUMOTO FUKU draws inspiration from the heavens: the moon, sun, and stars. The soft radiant white of unglazed porcelain is highlighted by brightly colored, shiny glazes in varying tones of blue glaze ranging from teal to powder blue that serve as adhering elements within her stacked forms or to delineate their edges.
Fukumoto originally pursued ceramics to distinguish herself from her parents, both successful textile artists. She explored the world of clay during her undergraduate studies but focused more prominently on porcelain during her graduate studies at Kyoto City University of Arts while working under Akiyama Yō, a celebrated ceramic sculptor. Despite her youth, Fukumoto has gained great recognition for her porcelains, many of which already reside in museum collections in Japan and the United States.
Selected Collections:
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
Four Seasons Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
INAX Tile Museum, Tokoname, Japan
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Tochigi, Japan
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Musée national des arts asiatiques (Musée Guimet), Paris, France
Museum of Kyoto, Japan
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Portland Art Museum, OR
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Vase-like unglazed base topped with wide, outspread tiered open, cascading flattened rings conjoined with shiny pale gray glaze between the tiers titled, Kumo; Clouds
2019
Glazed porcelain
19 1/2 x 16 7/8 x 16 1/2 in.
SOLD
Large shallow largely unglazed bowl decorated with a linear pattern in platinum and blue glazes
2017
Porcelain with platinum and blue glazes
4 1/2 x 14 1/4 x 14 in.
SOLD
Unglazed narrow-footed collapsed bowl cut in four sections and joined together by bands of greenish gray glaze
2018
Glazed porcelain
9 3/4 x 17 x 15 1/2 in.
SOLD
Tall two-part sculpture of white round bowl supported by separate vase-like base
2017
Unglazed porcelain (some glaze on connection)
22 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.
SOLD
Moon Shadow; Tiered sculpture of one rounded, two shallow, and large conical stacked bowls, fixed into position and decorated with blue, gray, and teal glazes
2016
Glazed porcelain
8 1/2 x 6 in.
Inv# 9725
SOLD
Unglazed mizusashi (water jar) held together by single band of blue glaze
2014
Unglazed porcelain with blue glaze
7 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.
Inv# 8974
SOLD
Unglazed narrow-footed bowl cut in three sections and joined together by bands of blue glaze
2014
Unglazed porcelain with seams of blue glaze
10 1/4 x 16 1/2 x 18 7/8 in.
Inv# 8562
SOLD
White vase form of deep straight-sided bowl set within a conical bowl, joined by a band of blue and pink glazes
2013
Glazed porcelain
9 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.
Inv# 8119
SOLD
Low round porcelain form of three blue-glazed bowls stacked unevenly inside one another, with center oculus of overlapping bowls
2012
Blue and teal-glazed porcelain
7 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.
Inv# 8116
SOLD
