Aso Kojima Solo Exhibition
Aso Kojima
March 5 (Sat) 10:00 – 14:00
March 6 (Sun) 11:00 – 17:00
※This exhibition is now concluded.
Thank you to all the many people who stopped by.
Event Details
Kaikai Kiki Gallery will hold an exhibition and sales event for Aso Kojima’s pottery works for two days only, on March 5 and 6, 2022.
Aso Kojima Ceramic Exhibition 2022
Date and Time:
March 5 (Sat) 10:00 – 14:00, March 6 (Sun) 11:00 – 17:00
Venue: Kaikai Kiki Gallery
Motoazabu Crest Building B1F, 2-3-30 Minato Ward, Tokyo, 106-0046
©︎Aso Kojima
Exhibition Overview
so Kojima (b. 1978) is a very mysterious potter. Three years ago, he stopped all his activities through ceramics galleries and has since been building a rather unique relationship with us. He delivers his works to us two or three times a year, which we purchase at prices (extremely low prices) set by Kojima. At the time of each delivery, we discuss and decide on the next theme and he would proceed with the subsequent production.
Kojima rejects the following: conventions of the pottery world, especially its logic for pricing; transition to a high price range that leads to authority; constraints on his expression; and wasteful relationships and wasted time. He accepts the following: ultimate capitalism; sharing of beauty; and minimalistic lifestyle.
We will be offering the works of Kojima for sale for the first time in several years in Japan. This time, we plan to offer the works in three different tiers.
First Tier: Works offered at Kojima’s suggested retail price. The artist had conflicts with galleries in the past because the prices they set were too cheap for him to make any profit.
Second Tier: Although purchased at a very low price, we would price these works a little higher for sale. This will be a body of work priced approximately at the range set by ceramics galleries in general.
Third Tier: Works offered at premium prices.
We seek to share the awareness about the praise-worthy artistry of Kojima’s works and resonate with the people who are able to make the purchase at a high price.
©︎Aso Kojima
Message from the Artist – Aso Kojima
Pleased to introduce myself, this is Aso Kojima.
I have been building a new type of relationship with Kaikai Kiki for the past three years.
I was thrilled by the idea, floated at the start of our renewed relationship, of publishing another collection of my work. That has been my sole motivation to create.
The reason is clear. As a self-taught potter, old ceramics catalogs were all I had as my textbook.
We creators can get a good sense of a work through pictures without seeing the actual object, and even with a black-and-white photo, we can still discern what’s the most important, i.e., whether the work is good or bad.
Since I am the type of person who basically doesn’t like to go anywhere, catalogs are more useful than museums for me. (Of course this is something particular to me.)
So create my work in the hope of being a part of good learning material.
These days I feel much better about my production process than before.
The fact that I no longer need to be present on the first day of exhibitions, that I don’t have clear deadlines (per my selfish preference), and that Kaikai Kiki purchases all of my work outright are, I believe, all factors that help me produce good works.
In any case, I cannot thank Kaikai Kiki enough for taking on all kinds of problems that may arise outside of production—mainly financial matters and human relations—and making sense of everything.
©︎Aso Kojima
A Unique relationship between Kojima and Kaikai Kiki
The very unique relationship between farmer (potter) Aso Kojima and Kaikai Kiki Gallery began in September of 2018. After 12 deliveries over the past three years and three months leading up to December 2021, Kaikai Kiki currently has a huge number of works in our inventory.
According to Kojima, what will remain in posterity for a long time may not be the work itself, but something like a published collection of works. He therefore wanted a relationship with Kaikai Kiki in which he produced work with publication of a collection of work in mind.
And so it is Kojima himself who decides everything about the process of production and delivery, from setting the themes to the actual production to assessing and sorting the completed work.
Furthermore, Kojima is currently working on a number of private projects in addition to pottery. For one, he is building his workshop and new house, about 3,600 sqft, deep in the mountains of Nagano, but he is doing everything himself, from making lumber out of trees he cut down from the mountains he acquired, to pouring the concrete foundation. He’s building the whole architecture himself.
If you ask me, it’s crazy.
For him, the pandemic has had no meaning, as he doesn’t see anyone in the first place. He’s completely focused on creating his own paradise.
I would like to share with you his achievements in pottery making, which is but one of his many ventures as a farmer.
Thank you sincerely for your support.
Takashi Murakami
©︎Aso Kojima
Notes on visiting the exhibition：
★ Please read each item below carefully before visiting the exhibition.
・As a measure against the spread of COVID-19, each group’s time in the gallery will be limited to 30 minutes.
・Please note that you may be asked to wait before entry depending on the congestion inside the venue.
・The works in this exhibition are delivered from Aso Kojima’s studio. Individual pieces may have scratches or chips. Please check each work carefully in person at the venue and acknowledge its condition before proceeding with your purchase.
・We recommend that you take home the purchased item on the day of purchase. (From the past experiences, many complaints arise in the process of delivery, and we would prefer not to ship the work. If you absolutely must have the items shipped, we may ask you to sign an agreement before proceeding). We also do not provide large shopping bags, and we charge a high price for the ones we have available. We therefore encourage our visitors to bring their own bags.
・In order to prevent theft, we record videos online in several places together with SECOM’s security cameras to avoid creating blind spots. In order to prevent theft, the venue has several cameras recording videos online in addition to SECOM’s security cameras to avoid creating blind spots. The recordings are used solely for crime prevention purposes. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in advance.
As precautionary measures to help contain the further spread of COVID-19, visitors are asked to wear masks and sanitize their hands before entering the gallery.
(Hand sanitizer is available at the entrance. Visitors without masks will be refused entry.)
Please refrain from visiting the gallery if you have any symptoms such as fever or cough.
Our staff will also adopt frequent hand sanitation and wear masks. The gallery will be routinely ventilated and high-touch areas will be regularly disinfected.
＊Please check our website or Instagram for the latest information regarding opening hours, as the gallery schedule is subject to abrupt change due to unpredictable circumstances.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
