Born in 1977, Jun Nishida passed away at a young age in 2005. Marking a decade from his death and in reflection of his activities, ARTCOURT Gallery has organized a solo exhibition of his work with the hope of shedding light on it’ s true essence.

“As a human, I wish to create a separate entity by entering where creation has emerged in accordance with natural providence.”
(The above statement is an excerpt from the DVD “Zetsu”, a monograph by Jun Nishida, published by Seigensha, 2006)

As he mentions, Nishida’s distinctive art style emerges from the exploration of chaos and repeated destruction in the process of making ceramics, which seems to relate back to the concept of the dawn of the universe. He appeared in the early 2000s and soon became a leading figure in the international field of ceramics. In this solo exhibition we will present his works from this time.
From 2000 to 2005 Nishida committed a tremendous amount of energy to creating ceramics. The works in his series, Zetsu have since received various acclaim both at home and abroad. He adapted the following method in the creation of these works:
At first he would make pots or large square-shaped molds with materials such as porcelain, cast-iron plates or bricks. He would then fill these pots and molds with glaze and fire them at high temperatures for a long time, sometimes setting pipes or unglazed disk-shaped pottery inwith them. After taking them out of the kiln, he would remove the mold and take out the ceramic mass formed inside, chiseling along the fissures displayed on these ceramics, and finally he would divide them into two or three parts to expose their insides. Nishida always chiseled the ceramic in an adventurous manner. Breaking them on purpose was the last stage of his working process.* Being fired at high temperatures for long period of time, the glaze would become a huge mass of glassy layers similar to lava, or heavy marble. The edges of the ceramics display dozens of crimps and scales. Where less heat had transferred, nothing of the glaze remained except powder. The thorough melting in the finished work presents the viewer with different textures, forms and colors making a vivid impression on and fascinating them at the same time.

After this show ends, most of the works included in this exhibition are scheduled for acquisition by museums both in Japan and overseas.
Consequently, this exhibition will be a rare opportunity presenting the full scope of Jun Nishida’s work.

* Nishida admitted that he could not clearly explain in words the originals of the series title “Zetsu”. In any case, the massive lump laid naked before my
eyes certainly lived up to the image of desperate heroism associated with the term in Japanese.
(Kazuko Todate ‘The Ceramics of Jun Nishida, Heroic Challenge - Capturing Nature in the Very Act of Creation’, Zetsu, published by Seigensha, 2006)