Swirling Vortex: Sand and Waves: Sakiyama Takayuki

For his sixth solo exhibition with Joan B Mirviss LTD, SAKIYAMA Takayuki (b. 1958) continues to explore the meeting of waves and shoreline, drawing inspiration from the rugged coastal landscape near his studio on the Izu peninsula. His dynamic swirling sculptural forms and their carved linear banding evoking vortexes earned him a special mention from the prestigious Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2021. The prize jurors commented that his vessel “both invokes and inverts the seabed.” 

Form and surface seamlessly mesh in the sculptural vessels created by Sakiyama Takayuki. His double-walled forms with cascading, undulating, carved ridges blur the boundaries between exterior and interior to a mesmerizing effect. Sakiyama achieves the sense of centrifugal motion in his vessels by first fashioning (from clay slabs) separate exterior and interior rings. He sculpts these with spirally diagonal irregular bands, moving along the exterior walls and continuing onto and around the interior. Then, he attaches a swirling base and an open “collar.” He seamlessly unites the segments with additional carved, overlapping bands until all the surfaces combine to create a veritable churning whirlpool. Sakiyama’s glistening, sand-infused glaze further enhances the vessel surfaces. Their textures call to mind a rough, grainy beach or a Zen Garden’s raked, combed sands.

Sakiyama studied at Osaka University of the Arts under three modern ceramic masters, all of whom emphasized non-functionality and originality of design. He, however, remains grounded in the challenge of maintaining functionality while creating dynamic sculptural forms.

These powerful, hypnotically carved functional vessels have earned him numerous awards and found permanent homes in museums worldwide, including The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyōgo Japan; the National Museum of Scotland; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among many others. Joan B Mirviss LTD is delighted to once again showcase his latest forceful, swirling creations in this sixth exhibition with the gallery.