Artist / Tomoya Sakai 酒井智也
Born in 1989 in Aichi, Japan, Tomoya Sakai graduated from the Nagoya University of Arts in 2015 and the Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center in 2019.
Sakai’s work explores themes of self-memory, collective memory, and the essence of humanity through abstract imagery created with clay and pottery wheel techniques. He believes that an individual’s personality and perception are shaped by their experiences, which accumulate as memories.
By meditating on the pottery wheel, he connects fragments of unconscious memories, dismantling and reconstructing ingrained images into forms that question their own existence. His art occupies the space between abstraction and concreteness, inviting viewers to reflect on their perceptions and the distinctions between self and others. In doing so, he emphasises the importance of recognizing one’s existence in a chaotic society.
1989 Born Aichi,Japan
2015 Graduated from Nagoya University of Arts, Ceramics Course
2019 Graduated from Tajimi City Pottery Design And Technical Center
works in Seto, Japan
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 What're U looking for?, Jiemo Gallery, China
2024 SPIRIT POP -The Forms of Eight Million Gods-, Hankyu Umeda, Japan
2024 -Heritage-, gallerySUKI, Japan
2023 Lucid dream, Mizusai, Japan
2023 SPIRIT POP, B-OWND gallery, Japan
2022 ReCollection, spiral 1F, japan
2022 Tomoya Sakai Solo Exhibition, creava gallery, Japan
2021 Unidentified Life Forms in Living Room, Ginza Tsutaya, Japan
2021 Tomoya Sakai Exhibition, Trophée Macocotte, France
2020 Ceramics Solo Exhibition , Jiemo Craft Gallery, China
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 ART FUTURE 2024, YIRI gallery, Taiwan
2024 ONE ART TAIPEI 2024, YIRI gallery, Taiwan
2024 NEXT2024, TOSHIN Ceramic Art Museum, Japan
2024 MIZUSAI, KAOLIN gallery, Stockholm
2024 Beautility: The Betweenness of Kogei, WHAT CAFE, Japan
2023 ULSAN INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR, FINORK, Korea
2023 KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa, creava gallery, Japan
2023 Affordable Art Fair 2023, Shanghai Exhibition Centre, China
2023 OBUJE - SEMIFUNCTIONAL FORM, backwoods.gallery, Australia
2022 ART TAIPEI, Taipei World Trade Center, Taiwan
2022 The Fragments of Homo Faber, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Japan
2021 Virtual Generation Pottery, Oil by BT, Japan
2021 Craft Trend Fair, Coex Hall C, Korea
2021 SOIL SURFACE SKY, cluster craft, UK
2021 Paris Design Week2021, Boon Paris, France
2021 1000vase, super studio, Italy
2020 Emerging Talents Online Exhibition, DAIICHI ARTS gallery, NY, USA
2020 KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa, Gallery Voice, Gifu, Japan
2019 EVOLVE, Gallery Milieu Space, Surabaya, Indonesia
AWARDS
2024 Bronze Award, the 13th International Ceramics Competition of Mino, Gifu, Japan
2023 Selected for the 17th Ceramic Art Grand Prize Exhibition of Paramita museum, Japan
2023 Selected for the 62nd Faenza Prize, Italy
2021 Silver Award, the 12th International Ceramics Competition of Mino, Gifu, Japan
2021 Selected for the Korean International ceramic biennale 2021, Korean
2021 Selected for the International KOGEI Award in TOYAMA, Toyama, Japan
2020 Selected for the 2020 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, New Taipei, Taiwan
2019 Selected for the 2019 Kogei World Competition in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
2016 Honorable Mention, the 71st SHINSHOU KOGEI EXHIBITION, Tokyo, Japan
2015 Excellence Award, the Graduation Exhibition at Nagoya University of Arts, Aichi, Japan
2014 Selected for the 10th International Ceramics Competition of Mino, Gifu, Japan
2013 Judge Award, the Clay object contest in Mizunami, Gifu, Japan
2013 Encouragement Award, by the Mayor of Nishio, the Nishio City Art exhibition, Aichi, Japan
PUBLIC COLLECTION
2023 International Museum of Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy
2021 Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Korean
2021 Nagoya University or the Arts Alumni-Collection, Japan
2020 New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei, Taiwan