Kojima Osamu

BiographyOsamu Kojima was born in 1973, Fukui, Japan, and currently lives and works inTaipei, Taiwan, where he did his Master of Arts in Tainan National University of theArts. Read More

Working with clay for almost 20 years, there is a fine line that separates the organicand the manufactured in his artworks. Even though there is a clear and immediateassociation with nature and its landscapes, his work is also deeply influenced by histhoughts on society, nostalgia and memories from the past. In his words:“Manufactured materials carry memories of human life, and even ruins still emit thelight of civilization. (…)”.The association with nature and the feeling of natural scenery comes from thematerial and artistic process itself. For his artworks, the artists collect clay from themountains and burns it in its original organic form. After a process of several stepshe then puts together many burnt pieces and burns them together, letting the piecesgrow. While doing so he pays a lot of attention to gravitational forces, alwayspushing the balance point to the edge of collapse and then keeping these momentsof tension.Osamu Kojima’s work is highly appreciated in view of the impressive domain of theclay and the glaze. Relevant awards include Gold Prize (2012) and the Grand Prize(2016) at Taiwan Ceramics Biennale; Bronze Award (2005 and 2014), 7th and 10thInternational Ceramics Exhibition Mino, Gifu, Japan; 17th Shumei Cultural FoundationPrize, Shiga, Japan. His work is represented in the collections of the KYOCERAMuseum of Art, Kyoto, Japan; Archie Bray Foundation, MT, U.S.A.; New Taipei CityYingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan, among others.