HAGI x HAGI - Eiichi Shibuya in his current form

Eiichi Shibuya is a potter with a craftsman's spirit who faithfully adheres to the fundamentals of Hagi ware making and pursues the traditional path of pottery making. At the same time, he is an ambitious artist who explores how he can express the complex and diverse sensibilities of modern people in his own unique and unconventional ceramic form.

In his workshop, overflowing with an irrepressible creative urge, he grapples with clay every day using a rare coil-building technique for Hagi ware.

Approximately ten years have passed since he began exploring contemporary sensibilities in this primitive shaping technique and applying them to his own form. In recent years, he has become convinced that the undulating dynamism arising from this technique is closely related to the potentiality deep within himself.

Shibuya today is trying to express the reality of contemporary sensibilities by reconstructing images derived from the limited functions of vessels, such as "holding" or "pouring," into different forms (which are not necessarily practical).

In essence, it's about capturing the subtle changes in form that emerge in the liminal space between functionality and lack thereof, and using them to evoke a multifaceted image.

This expansive direction, which deliberately disrupts the formal boundaries of contemporary ceramics—the distinction between vessels and objects—is being closely watched as a contemporary example of "Hagi's seven transformations."

Yasuyuki Ishizaki (Deputy Director of Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Museum of Art and Urakami Memorial Hall)