RYOJI KOIE - SCREEN

Ryoji Koie (1938–2020), Born in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, a historic center of ceramic production, Ryoji Koie first encountered clay at fifteen while working in a toilet bowl factory, an experience that revealed both the harshness of industrial labor and the material’s expressive potential. After training at Tokoname High School and the Tokoname Ceramic Art Institute, he gained early recognition at the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition in 1963 and went on to win international acclaim at the Vallauris International Ceramics Biennial in 1972, later joining the International Academy of Ceramics in 1980. From the 1980s onward, Koie embraced radical experimentation, moving fluidly between functional wares, installations, happenings and politically charged series such as Chernobyl and No More Hiroshima Nagasaki. His work is marked by dynamic gestures through glaze projections, incisions, cuts and impressions that imbue even ordinary forms with poetic force. Oscillating between discipline and play, Koie’s practice was driven by bursts of inspiration, yielding bodies of work that remain at once tactile, contemplative and profoundly human.