Double-knotted Bundle

Description

Tanaka Yu 田中悠
Japan, born 1989
Double-knotted bundle
Reiwa era (2019–present)
2023
Blue matte-glazed stoneware
Museum purchase made
possible by Joseph and
Nancy Keithley, 2024/1.351

Reversing our perception of material texture and
weight, Tanaka Yu creates stunning ceramic works
inspired by traditional Japanese techniques of
wrapping a vessel with cloth. The viewer is left to
imagine a vessel that is never revealed. To deceive
the eye into believing clay is cloth, Tanaka first
coil-builds a form using blended clay with superb
plasticity. Then, using sponges, she smooths the
surface and applies a thin layer of clay slip with a
brush or air-brush. The bright blue color is achieved
by applying two coats of slip glaze before the initial

firing, a process repeated up to four times until the
desired color is achieved.
Tanaka studied ceramic art in Kyoto, the former
capital of Japan, and still lives and works there. Her
work combines two contradictory histories of the city:
it is a place where antique ceramics are still actively
collected and admired, and a place where radical
ceramic artists and movements have flourished.

(Japanese Gallery Rotation, Summer 2025)