Koie Ryōji

(1938-2020)

One of Japan's most versatile and forward-thinking contemporary artists, KOIE RYŌJI was best known as a ceramist but esteemed for his two-dimensional artwork as well. His love of experimentation led to his creation of “ceramic happenings,” with themes that were social and often political critiques of the horrors of the 20th century. Born in 1938 in Tokoname, one of the oldest ceramic centers in Japan, Koie studied ceramics locally but almost immediately developed his iconoclastic style. Rather than labor to preserve tradition, as a young man, he looked to movements in postwar contemporary art such as the abstract expressionist paintings of Jackson Pollock and the found-object ethos of Mono-ha. The gestural application of glazes on his ceramics created dynamic surfaces that reflected this innovative approach. His works can be found in the permanent collections of prominent museums on five continents.

Selected Public Collections:

Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NC
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Dayton Art Institute, OH
Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Kyungsung University Museum, Busan, South Korea
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
Museo de Art Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, Italy
Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan
Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
River Retreat Garaku, Toyama, Japan
San Antonio Museum of Art, TX
Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea
Tokoname City Hall, Japan
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan