Artist Katsuyo Aoki primarily uses ceramics to create her sculptural work.
However, the ceramic is more than simply a material she uses to build the work. The clean white color resembles old sun bleached bones, perfect for the pieces’ skull like shapes.
Aoki also relies on the the historical language and connotations of the material. The extremely ornate ceramic is reminiscent of keepsakes, knick-knacks, and home furnishings of a well decorated home.
These light weight associations are juxtaposed against the existential heaviness of the object’s shape: a human skull.
In her artist's statement Aoki relates the contrasting feelings she intends her work to inspire:
“Their existence in the present age makes us feel many things; adoration, some sort of romantic emotions, a sense of unfruitfulness and languor from their excessiveness and vulgarity. And on the other hand, they make us feel tranquility and awe that can almost be described as religious, as well as an image as an object of worship.”
However, the ceramic is more than simply a material she uses to build the work. The clean white color resembles old sun bleached bones, perfect for the pieces’ skull like shapes.
Aoki also relies on the the historical language and connotations of the material. The extremely ornate ceramic is reminiscent of keepsakes, knick-knacks, and home furnishings of a well decorated home.
These light weight associations are juxtaposed against the existential heaviness of the object’s shape: a human skull.
In her artist's statement Aoki relates the contrasting feelings she intends her work to inspire:
“Their existence in the present age makes us feel many things; adoration, some sort of romantic emotions, a sense of unfruitfulness and languor from their excessiveness and vulgarity. And on the other hand, they make us feel tranquility and awe that can almost be described as religious, as well as an image as an object of worship.”
In her own words:
“Currently, I use ceramics as my material in my method of expression, incorporating various decorative styles, patterns, and symbolic forms as my principal axis in creating my works.
The decorative styles and forms I allude to and incorporate in my works each contain a story based on historical backgrounds and ideas, myths, and allegories. Their existence in the present age makes us feel many things -- adoration, some sort of romantic emotions, a sense of unfruitfulness and languor from their excessiveness and vulgarity. And on the other hand, they make us feel tranquility and awe that can almost be described as religious, as well as an image as an object of worship. By citing such images, I feel I am able to express an atmosphere that is a part of the complex world in this age.
In fact, the several decorative styles and forms I cite simultaneously hold divine and vulgar meaning in the present age, having an irrational quality that contradict each other, which I feel express an important aspect in the contemporary age in which we live.
Also, the technique of ceramics has a tradition that has been a part of the history of decoration over a long time, and I feel the delicateness and fragile tension of the substantial material well express my concept.”
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