TAO Akira Stretching

Description

Tao Akira’s “Stretching” (Nobibi, 伸び伸び) resists any single, fixed interpretation. The sculpture appears to expand and grow into space—almost weightless, as if slipping free from gravity itself.

The individual angular, cubist elements interlock and come together in an unexpectedly natural way to form a coherent whole. What appears constructed also feels distinctly organic — and it is precisely in this tension that the work finds its strength.

In the wood firing, the surface fully reveals itself: unglazed Shigaraki clay, marked by yōhen (kiln transformations, 窯変), with warm reddish and brown tonal variations. These effects intensify along edges and transitions, where heat and flame interact most strongly. The characteristic small feldspar inclusions add further visual dynamism and texture to the surface.

Aesthetically, “Stretching” departs distinctly from the classical Shigaraki aesthetic. The work recalls the avant-garde Sōdeisha movement, which understood ceramics as a medium of free artistic expression rather than functional vessels. At the same time, a subtle link to function remains: despite its sculptural radicality, the piece can still be read as a vase — for instance within the context of ikebana.

Tao Akira’s background and training in the United States are reflected in this openness of form. “Stretching” is less an object than an attitude — a play with balance, material, and possibility.

The sculpture is delivered in a signed wooden box.

TAO AKIRA

Tao Akira, originally from Nagasaki, combines geometric, freely constructed forms with the tradition of wood firing in Shigaraki, his artistic home. His sculptural “objects” represent an independent, contemporary position beyond the conventions of classical tea ceramics.