Fumio Matsutani: Selected works, 2022
Born in 1975, Matsutani Fumio creates soaring ceramic sculptural vessels in his studio in Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku Island. His mostly hand-built process begins with shaping clay by hand, allowing it to dry, and then refining the form through detailed incisions. He etches single lines across the entire piece, glazes and fires it multiple times, and finally finishes it with sandpaper. Born into a family known for Tobe ware (砥部焼, Tobe-yaki), Matsutani grew up in his family studio surrounded by hand-thrown, mass-produced porcelain utensils decorated in dark cobalt blue. Departing from his family tradition, he sought to broaden his creative horizons and explore contemporary expressions of ceramics.
At the age of twenty, Matsutani enrolled at Kyoto Saga University of Arts, where he studied under Imai Masayuki (1930–2023), who specialized in colorful inlaid ceramic works. It was here that Matsutani’s interest in color began. Colors play a critical role in his ceramic language, and many of his recent pieces are titled with a single Japanese Kanji character: Sō 蒼 (Blue), Ō 黄 (Yellow), or Rei 黎 (Black).
Captions
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, Ō (Yellow) 黄, 2021, stoneware, 17 x 20 5/8 x 11 1/8 in. Photo credit: Grant Hancock
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, No. 12 Sō (Blue) 蒼, 2021, stoneware, 9 1/4 × 25 3/4 × 13 1/8 in.
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, Rei (Black) Water Jar D-1 黎 水指, Stoneware, 6 1/2 × 9 × 9 1/2 in.
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, Rei (Black) D-3 黎, 2022, stoneware, 9 1/2 × 17 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, No. 15 Sō (Blue) 蒼, 2021, stoneware, 19 × 26 3/4 × 17 in.
- Matsutani Fumio 松谷文生, Ō (Yellow) D-5 黄, stoneware, 8 5/8 × 14 × 11 5/8 in.
