Larsen warner is very pleased to present RAPTURE, a duo exhibition by Takuro Kuwata and Anton Alvarez. The exhibition can be viewed as a physical manifestation of an imagined artistic conversation, crossing all geographical and cultural boundaries and finding a home within the gallery space.  Presenting a unique landscape of sculptural ceramic works and presented together for the first time, each artist playfully pushes the boundaries of the ceramic medium, creating works rich in tradition and at the same time utterly unconventional. Each work is shown side by side or grouped together, creating a truly unique and surprising sculptural environment. The exhibition offers the viewers a rare opportunity to inhabit a fantastical world created by these boundary pushing artists and experience the work of two sculptors at the vey forefront of the development of new ceramic traditions.

Japanese artist Takuro Kuwata is known for his innovative, contemporary approach to ceramics. With subtle nods to tradition and function, his experimental processes breed artwork as conceptual as it is striking. Kuwata’s studio is situated at the heart of Japanese ceramic artistry of Gifu Prefecture, which retains history and techniques that date back to feudal Japan. Through dialogue with environment, history, nature, and time, Kuwata fuses together tradition and modernity, bringing into existence his provocative works of art. Takuro Kuwata describes his work as firmly grounded within the traditions of ceramics. His focus is to push the potential of his materials, while referencing traditional forms. His goal is to “create joyful and fun works, by making the most use of the characteristics of the materials”.

Kuwata expands the possibilities and pushes the boundaries of ceramic art by taking on traditional Japanese ceramic techniques such as ‘kairagi’ and ‘ishihaze,’. In Ishi-haze or stone explosion, Kuwata inserts oversized volcanic rocks within the raw clay which spilt and explode when fired within the kiln, creating ruptures and splits from within the surface of the sculptures. Kairagi is used by Kuwata to create imperfections in the glaze caused by shrinking and cracking. He is drawn to the imperfections resulting from this process, with the glaze applied so thickly that when fired, the outer layer of the sculpture is fractured and appears to be slipping away from the colour beneath. Rendering his ceramics in a highly colourful visual palette, Kuwata creates fractured forms, vivid glazes, metallic embellishments and glistening droplets that congeal on the surfaces of his sculptures. By exploring, yet breaking the rules  Kuwata has become one of the most intriguing artistic voices transforming the ceramic medium working today.

Anton Alvarez has made art-producing machines for more than a decade, with his sculptural forms exploring the relationship between human creation and mechanical apparatus. By subverting traditional expectations of ceramic making, Alvarez’s extruded sculptures both advance technological innovation while at the same time utilise traditional craftsmanship.

Alvarez does not want to be able to imagine the final result. Through each works creation, Alvarez seeks the unexpected, to be surprised by the process and ultimately, faced with something that he has never encountered before. That’s why the construction of the machines is the starting point of everything. The machines are inextricable from his work, acting as an extension of himself, like a painters brushstroke. For Alvarez it is important to create the feeling that the artwork may have constructed itself as if it just came into existence, a self-generated craft beyond human imagination; a sculpture that only comes into being through particular processes and circumstances generated by himself.  Each work presented in the exhibition is a reflection of this process. As the clay is squeezed through the extruder, bends and splits occur, with areas of intense pressure creating undulations and curves. Alvarez has limited control over the final work, instead, factors of chance and accident dictate the final outcome which culminates in every instance in a singular other-worldy form in Alvarez’s truly unique visual language.

Takuro Kuwata (b. 1981, Hiroshima, Japan) Graduated from Tajimi City Pottery Design and Technical Center in 2007, he lives and works in Gifu, Japan. Selected solo exhibitions include ZUNGURIMUKKURI (ROLYPOLY), Salon 94, New York, USA (2021); Hi Tea Bowl, I'm in Paris. Pierre Marie Giraud, Brussels, Belgium (2020); Day After Day, Otowa-san Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan (2019); Dear Tea Bowl, Horsetails are in season in Hagi, Hagi Uragami Museum, Yamaguchi, Japan (2019); TAKURO KUWATA meets Trading Museum COMME des GARÇONS, Trading Museum COMME des GARÇONS, Tokyo, Japan (2019); I’m Home, Tea Bowl, KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, Japan (2017); From Tea Bowl, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK (2016). Selected Group Exhibitions include Contemporary Japanese Crafts, Miyazaki Art Center, Miyazaki, Japan (2021); CHATO, Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum, Ibaraki, Japan (2021); Classical Revival and Modern Japanese Ceramics, POLA Museum of Art, Kanagawa, Japan (2020); The World: From The OKETA COLLECTION, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan (2021); Contemporary Japanese Crafts, Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (2020); CERAMIC MOMENTUM – Staging the Object, CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art, Middelfart, Denmark (2019); Fire and Clay, Gagosian Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland (2018); LOEWE Craft Prize 2018, DESIGN MUSEUM, London, UK (2018); Regarding George Ohr: Contemporary Ceramics in the Spirit of the Mad Potter, BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART, Florida, USA (2017); Japanese Kōgei | Future Forward, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA (2015). Kuwata’s work is featured in many private and public collections including Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida, USA, Marciano Art Foundation, California, USA, Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA, Rubell Family Collection, Florida, USA, Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas, USA, Takahashi Collection, Tokyo, Japan, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Michigan, USA, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Anton Alvarez (b.1980 Uppsala, Sweden) graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, UK in 2012. Alvarez will be presenting new work in the upcoming duo exhibition Rapture alongside Takuro Kuwata at Larsen Warner, Stockholm (November 2021); Recent solo exhibitions include Roman Toothpaste MXXI, Vandalorum, Sweden (2021); The Flavour is So Strong, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden (2019); L’Ultima Cera, Church San Bernardino alle Monache, Milan, Italy (2019); Visual Vertigo, Espace Muraille, Geneva, Switzerland (2019); To Plan the Unexpected, Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden (2017); Alphabet Aerobics, National Centre for Craft and Design, UK (2016); How Long is a Piece of Thread, Xue Xue Institute, Taiwan (2016); Wrapsody, Salon 94, NY (2015). In September 2019 Alvarez was included included in the 10th Korean ceramic Biennale. Selected group shows include Ceramic Momentum: Staging the Object, Clay Keramikmuseum, Middelfart, Denmark (2019); The Most Real Thing: Contemporary Textiles and Sculpture, New Art centre, Roche Court, UK (2018); Color Your Life at Daelim Museum, Seoul, Korea and Wild Things at the Texture Museum, Belgium. Alvarez’s work is included in the public collections of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden; Denver Art Museum, Colorado, USA and the Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden as well as many prominent private collections. In 2015 Alvarez’s first major monograph Anton Alvarez: The Thread Wrapping Machine was published by Arvinius + Orfeus Publishing with a foreword by Richard Wentworth.