RICCA OKANO • CERAMIC ARTIST

RICCA OKANO • CERAMIC ARTIST
NAGANO • JAPAN

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

Ricca Okano is a Japanese ceramic artist, born in Tokyo and now based in Karuizawa, in the wild, mountainous and often snow covered region of Nagano Prefecture.

Her aesthetic is instantly recognisable as one that extends beyond the boundaries of the ceramic object. Embracing a state of multiplicity, her pieces are both sculptural and illustrative, utilitarian and sublime, culminating in vibrant and explosive works that are driven by instinct and the desire to capture her natural environment.

Each moment is an autobiographical imprint of the artist, a deeply personal exploration of material, environment and the self. For Okano, ceramics are a way of navigating the changing of seasons, the unpredictability and force of weather, and the immediacy of emotions.

At times they seem to exist restlessly between these worlds: while their otherworldly presence resists the history of the vessel to which they are bound, they are also carefully constructed to be held and used, and offer themselves as such.

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

Ricca started out in ceramics helping with her mother's work, but soon forged a solo career. She has always strived to create new possibilities within ceramic art - taking inspiration from the materials and her environment.

While the core of her practice has always been ceramics, her creative impulse has at times broadened to include painting, sculpture and even installation art - using ceramics and video to express the real world and the spiritual world.

In her recent ceramic work, she has has challenged herself to express the weather and emotions, born from a projection of her daily feelings about the natural environment of Karuizawa, and drawing inspiration from the ecosystem of the forest around her atelier - of fog, clouds, and the movement of light - and converting them into shape and colour.

A strong characteristic of Okano's work is the playful use of colour, which she uses to express instantaneous daily emotions - "a layer of consciousness that has been dripped like coffee beans by blending scenes picked up from the time axis of the past, present and the future".

When working, she focuses on the inevitable form that arises from her technique, and often deliberately reconstructs the artefacts that arise from her process - leaving the shape of a finger that’s made when grabbing a piece from the pottery wheel, or attaching a handle or foot by cutting the shape of the cup.

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

Moving to Karuizawa in 2005 had a profound influence on her practice. Set in the mountainous and often snow covered surroundings of the Nagano area, the beauty of its volcanoes, fogs, and forests, and the seasonal changes in nature all stimulate her work. And while making pottery in the the freezing conditions of winter can be physically challenging, she is drawn to the beauty of the snow field, where she can quietly concentrate on her work in the presence of animals and nature.

Over the years Ricca has exhibited extensively throughout Japan, with both solo shows and as part of group exhibitions. She also has a strong international presence, and has exhibited work in places as varied as Karlsruhe, Taipei and New York City, and was recently part of the Thirst Exhibition of Contemporary Asian Craftsmanship x Sydney Design Week by overduestudio in Sydney.

She continues to make and exhibit her work as an artist and has opened the "be here now" gallery in Karuizawa.

WORK @ DEA

Ricca's extraordinary work is in high demand in Japan and around the world, and it is a great honour for us to be able to share a small selection of it with the Australian market.

EXHIBITIONS @ DEA

27 OCT 2023 • Sky & Earth

BIOGRAPHY

1965 Born in Tokyo, JAPAN
1985 Graduated from Kyoritsu Women's Junior College
1990 Graduated from Tajimi Technical High School - Advanced Ceramics Course

2009 "Art Karlsruhe 2009" - Gallery Sudo | Germany
2015 Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival 2015
2017 20th Taro Award - Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum | Kawasaki
2018 Artist in Residence - Hakone | Sengokuhara
2022 Thirst Exhibition - Contemporary Asian Craftsmanship x Sydney Design Week - overduestudio | Sydney

RICCA OKANO • CERAMIC ARTIST

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

Photo : Mina Tabuchi

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