Locks Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new ceramic sculptures by internationally acclaimed artist Jun Kaneko, on view from February 5 – March 19, 2016. There will be a reception for the artist on Friday, February 5, from 5:30-7:30 pm
In contrast to the monumental “Dangos” shown at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in 2009, this exhibit focuses on two bodies of small-scale works by Kaneko, including hand-built ceramic constructions and Raku-fired wall slabs. Kaneko’s human-scale works address the space in and around a sculpture and the formal relationships between elemental shapes and volumes—such as spheres, slabs and cylinders placed in intimate structures and playful juxtapositions. The bright palette of the constructions reflect the low-fire glazing process Kaneko has mastered over the years, and the complementary wall-mounted Raku slabs reveal a connection to painting through drips, splashes and lines that trace the speed and movement of the artist’s hand.
Jun Kaneko (born in 1942 in Nagoya, Japan) has pursued a varied and prolific art practice since moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s and apprenticing with Peter Voulkos. He has shown extensively in the U.S. for over fifty years and had one-person exhibits in Finland, Norway, Japan, South Korea and Canada. Kaneko’s work is in numerous museum collections throughout the world including Arabia Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Detroit Institute of Arts; Gardiner Museum, Toronto; Los Angeles County Art Museum; Museum of Art and Design, NY; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Phoenix Art Museum and Smithsonian American Art Museum. In addition to his sculptures and installations, the artist has been commissioned to design costumes and sets for leading productions by the Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera and the Philadelphia Opera Company.
