申し訳ありません。このコンテンツはただ今、英語のみとなります。 For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

"Treading the Earth" exhibition in China is currently on view at Lisson Gallery Shanghai

Like recently unearthed archaeological artefacts, the ceramic artworks of Masaomi Yasunaga evoke remnants of human-made objects eroded by time and reclaimed by nature. Treading the Earth, his first exhibition in China is currently on view at Lisson Gallery Shanghai until April 19th. I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition and speak with Yasunaga in an online conversation, discussing his experimental methods, approach to materiality, and the ideas that shape his practice. This article reflects on our discussion, interwoven with excerpts from our exchange.

Treading the Earth, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Born in 1982, Masaomi Yasunaga lives and works in Iga-shi, Mie Prefecture, Japan. His approach to ceramics, incredibly experimental and unconventional, challenges the boundaries of contemporary ceramics, emphasising the collaborative and symbiotic relationship between making and natural unpredictability. Reflecting on his practice, Yasunaga explains: “Certain keywords, such as time, accumulation, vessels, and emptiness, have become essential to my practice. [...] I rely on my intuition, shaped by 20 years of experience in ceramics and countless creations, but what influences me most is what I notice and pay attention to in my everyday life". Despite being contemporary, Yasunaga’s works resemble unearthed relics, like archaeological findings or shipwrecked artefacts, altered by time, microorganisms, weathering, and erosion. This aspect is evident in Treading the Earth, where vessels, figurines, and mosaic tablets occupy an interstitial space, somewhere between functional containers and sculptural objects, between the intentionally crafted and the naturally formed.

Melting Vessel (detail), Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

By entering the gallery, a long wooden plinth extends across the hall, displaying an orderly procession of pots, cups, and cocoon-like or animal-like figurines. The viewer’s perception is drawn into these hollow vessels not only due to their open and unconventional forms but, more importantly, because of their rough, enigmatic materiality. The distinction between ceramic, glaze, and found elements blur together. These components fuse into a delicate yet coarse, fragile body, marked by cracks and subtle colour variations.

Treading the Earth, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Mosaic Vessel and Melting Vessel, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Unlike traditional ceramics, where clay is the primary material while glazes remain a surface treatment, Yasunaga reverses this hierarchy, making glaze the principal component of his work. Through continuous experimentation, he refined glaze recipes, adjusting raw materials commonly used in ceramics and incorporating unexpected elements such as glass powders, metals, and even whole rocks. This innovative approach makes glazes more malleable, transforming them from liquid coatings into plastic mediums to work with. Because of the lack of a solid inner core, his sculptures undergo dramatic physical changes and structural distortions during the firing process.

Melting Vessel (detail), Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

It is through this very process, with fire and high temperatures shaping the works, that Yasunaga’s practice becomes entangled with nature. The elemental force of fire strips away the artist’s intentions, embracing an unpredictable transformation. Rather than seeing this as a constraint, he considers it an act of collaboration with nature: “I believe that all ceramic works inherently accept natural phenomena and come into being through a collaboration with them. [...] From the very beginning of my journey in ceramics, I have been fascinated by the unpredictable transformations that occur within the kiln, phenomena beyond human comprehension.” The artwork series Empty Creature manifests this phenomenon most clearly, where the artist's meticulous process of assembling stone by stone, grain by grain, becomes almost imperceptible and fully assimilated into the molten glass body.

Empty Creature, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Empty Creature (detail), Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Accumulation is a keyword Masaomi Yasunaga frequently uses to describe his artworks. It carries an inherent ambiguity, referring to the addition of elements, such as stones, fragments, and found objects, that build upon the body of the artwork, yet also to the accumulation of external forces. These forces, particularly the intense heat of kiln firing, have the opposite effect: consuming, melting, and eroding materials. As he describes: “The continuous accumulation of subtle external forces wraps around objects and materials like a thin membrane, expressing the passage of time and its energy. […] As these forces accumulate, the intrinsic meaning and purpose of objects slip away, consumed and transformed, rendered unrecognisable." In Yasunaga’s work, accumulation is both a constructive and destructive process, an interplay between the generative act of creation and the consuming force of nature.

Vessel Fused With Stone, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

This duality is particularly evident in Vessels Fused with Stone, an artwork that stands apart on a wooden pedestal, occupying a distinct position and significance within the exhibition. The most striking feature is the granite rocks protruding from the pinkish body of the vessel. These external elements, fused into the form of a pot, invite reflection on the practice of gathering and his approach to sourcing natural materials. They evoke a sense of awe and contemplation about the past lives of these objects, whether coming from nature or encountered in different contexts. Discussing his material selection process, Yasunaga elaborates: “I don’t impose any strict rules or limitations on how I source or engage with materials. In the case of Vessels Fused with Stone, I initially began by collecting stones from a river. However, later on, I received a ton of unwanted granite from an acquaintance, which ultimately became the core of the work. My focus is on drawing out what exists between my own creation and nature’s creation. Therefore, the way I encounter materials is always different, and I procure them in ways that are feasible for each situation”.

Mosaic, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Yasunaga’s fascination with vessels extends beyond their physical form, reaching a new dimension in his latest work: a series of two-dimensional mosaic tablets. Displayed on the gallery walls, this collection of artworks stretch across the space, guiding visitors toward an isolated room with a balcony overlooking the outdoors. In each piece, the vessel remains the focal point, sometimes rendered with precise shading, other times taking on a more abstract or pixelated form. In some cases, they are reduced to a mere outline, creating an opening through which other vessels can be perceived, though often only faintly recognised. These shapes and negative spaces morph into one another, shifting through colour, material, and texture variations across each piece. Upon close observation, the mosaic tablets reveal intricate details: numerous microstructures and patterns, blurring the line between natural formation and artistic intervention. It becomes difficult to discern whether these textures arise from the crystallisation of glazes or crafted by the artist. It is precisely this ambiguity, this tension between the human-made and the naturally formed, that makes the work of Masaomi Yasunaga so distinctive.

Mosaic, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

adf-web-magazine-masaomi-yasunaga-treading-the-earth-4

Mosaic, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Mosaic (detail), Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

Moreover, this series reconnects visitors to the exhibition’s central theme, recalling ancient cobblestone streets and pavements, sculpted and eroded over millennia by countless footsteps. As humans tread the Earth, they leave everlasting traces, memories etched into the physical world. This interplay between time, human presence, and material transformation forms the central motif of these artworks and resonates with the philosophy of the artist. He reflects: “I see time as an accumulation of external actions [...]. I intentionally distinguish between actions that are clearly human-made and those that are nearly indistinguishable from natural processes.”  This perspective is reflected in his theoretical approach, acknowledging the continuous impact of humanity on the planet, as well as in his artistic practice. Central to his modus operandi is an openness to collaborating with the natural processes inherent in ceramic production. Aware of this, Masaomi Yasunaga embraces intuition and instinct, often losing track of each gesture and action applied: “During the creation process, I focus on an uncountable number of seemingly insignificant actions, so small that it is unclear whether they will even affect the final work.”

Mosaic, Masaomi Yasunaga, Lisson Gallery, ph. Amedeo Martines, March 2025

A snapshot during our conversation, March 2025

Through his innovative techniques, both primitive and contemporary, Masaomi Yasunaga challenges our perception of ceramics, inviting us to reconsider the fragile boundary between human intervention and nature’s transformative power. Ceramics, more than other materials, offer such an entangled and synergistic connection due to their processes, elements, and the never-fully controllable behaviours inherent in the material. This allows such an ancient medium to be continuously reinvented, staying open and ever-evolving in dialogue with the present. Yasunaga’s work exemplifies the ongoing reinvention of this timeless medium, inspiring artists to explore new, uncharted paths in ceramic making.