February 13–March 13, 2021
Steve Turner is pleased to present Like A Virgin, the American debut solo exhibition by Kazuhito Kawai which features new ceramic vessels. The title comes from Madonna’s hit song that came out in 1984, the year of Kawai’s birth. In 1984, things were good in Japan and remained so for a few more years. However, over the subsequent thirty years, the situation has steadily declined, so much so, that Kawai’s generation is known in Japan as the “lost generation.” It has lived through a steady downward trend where hope was uncommon and drugs and alcohol were abundant. Bad as the situation has been, pop culture served to cover up the despair. These are the essential elements of Kawai’s work–despair represented by the chaos, irregularity, collapse and fragility of random shapes and the accompanying masking of that despair with bright and lustrous colors. A final ingredient are his titles which come from songs, movies and novels that are meaningful to him. With Covid the problems in Japan have come out into the open. Depression, discrimination, anger, helplessness and loneliness are now plain to see. To find meaning, Kawai turned inward. Using clay, he has built grotesque castles from despair, coloring them with fantasy and sealing them with fire. Born in 1984 in Ibaraki, Japan, Kawai earned a BA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, London (2007) before returning to Japan where he earned a BA at the Ibaraki Prefectural College of Ceramics (2018). His work has been exhibited at Mitsukoshi Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo (2020); SHOP Taka Ishii Gallery, Hong Kong (2019); t.gallery, Tokyo (2019) and House in Kasama, Ibaraki, Japan (2017). It also has also been presented by Taka Ishii Gallery at Frieze, Los Angeles (2020) and Art Basel, Miami Beach (2019). He lives and works in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Kazuhito Kawai creates ceramic vessels that are inspired by his identification with Japan’s “lost generation,” one that has lived through a steady downward trend where hope was uncommon, drugs and alcohol were abundant and pop culture served to ease the pain. With their chaos, irregularity, collapse and fragility his works allude to despair and with their bright and lustrous colors, they also mask it. Born 1984, Ibaraki, Japan Education 2007 Solo Exhibitions 2019 2018 2017 Group Exhibitions 2019 2018 Awards Bibliography
Lives and works in Ibaraki
2018
Kasama College of Ceramic Art
BA, University of the Arts London, Chelsea College of Arts
2021
Like A Virgin, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
The Kitsch, t.gallery, Tokyo
Or Impressionism, rusu, Meguro, Tokyo
Naughty Loneliness, SOZO Salon, Tokyo
Freaks, House in Kasama, Ibaraki
2020
H―C三N, Tokyo International Gallery
Art Basel (with Taka Ishii Gallery)
Full Frontal: Nude Circulator, Mitsukoshi Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo
Taipei Connections (with Sokyo, Taipei)
SHOW ME [TUCHIKURE] with LOOP FEELING, Sokyo, Kyoto
Frieze Los Angeles (with Taka Ishii Gallery)
Art Basel Miami Beach (with Taka Ishii Gallery)
Design Miami (with Sokyo)
Art Kyoto (with Sokyo)
±8, SHOP Taka Ishii Gallery, Hong Kong
Life As Present, L’Arbre à Plumes, Brussels
Shu-Shu-Shu-Show: Spiral (with t.gallery), Tokyo
2018
Shibuya Awards
2020
Clark, Garth. “Kazuhito Kawai: Is it real or is it Memorex,” C-File, October 22
Miseviciute, Aiste. “DISCOVER: Six New-Generation Japanese Ceramic Artists to Watch,” We Are Japan, August 13
Ohad, Daniella. “7 Japanese Artists Put a Contemporary Spin on Craft Materials,” Interior Design, May 27
