Shunsuke Osone “Animals, Dry Lacquer Sculptures”

Gallery Sekiryu Minami Aoyama Room

Finished

Artists

Shunsuke Osone

Gallery Sekiryu is please to present an exhibition of animal sculptures
using dry lacquer technique by Shunsuke Osone at the gallery in Minami
Aoyama, Tokyo, from April 6 to 21 and then in Matsumoto City, Nagano
Prefecture from May 11 to 26.

Shunsuke Osone (born in Kanagawa Prefecture, 1978) graduated from Department
of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design, Musashino Art University in 2002,
and took masters course of Cultural Properties Preservation, Tokyo
University of the Arts in 2004. He was involved with the Institute of Fine
Arts National Treasure Repair Center in Kyoto for 11 years, devoted himself
into restoration of national treasures. In terms of both technique and
sense, Osone’s creation is based on what he has done as a restorer touching
and researching the timeless ancient Buddha statues for many years.

Japanese dry lacquer technique statue (kanshitsu-zo) is made by putting a
hemp cloth on the original form and solidifying it with Japanese lacquer
(urushi) to make an external form, then adjusting the surface with a mixture
of wooden powder, “urushi” lacquer and flour (a thick paste called kokuso
lacquer), and coloring it, repeating this process again and again. One of
the most well-known works made using dry lacquer technique is the Asura
statue at Kofuku-ji, which is an Asian-specific technique often used to
create Buddha statues during the Nara period (710-784). However,
historically, in the Heian period (794-1192), this time-consuming and
expensive technique had almost disappeared as a major technique for making
Buddha statues, and has never been revived thereafter. However, Osone has
revived this technique for making his sculptures.

Osone brings Japanese lacquer technique to portray unique characteristics of
animals, and we can feel its texture, temperature, moisture, and even a
touch of flesh. Osone uses two types of dry lacquer technique depending on
the motifs that he wants to make. One is the hollow dry lacquer method
(dakkatsu kanshitsu)* and the other is the wood-core dry lacquer method
(mokushin kanshitsu)**. * The hollow dry lacquer method: putting layers of
hemp soaked with lacquer on a rough core of clay, and then removing the
core. A wooden frame reinforces the statue inside to prevent warping. ** The
wood-core dry lacquer method: carving the basic shape of the statue from
wood. Kokuso lacquer is common for both methods to make details for
finishing. His works are more than just being real, even we realize it
unexpectedly, they have strong presence with the characteristic of each
animal.

The 4 new works to be shown are all made using wooden-core dry lacquer.
Osone repeatedly visited places to see the models, which are all existing
animals, such as a mini-pig “Chaco” and a Holstein “Kokkou “. So many
wordless meetings with the animals enabled him to achieve these remarkably
beautiful sculptures. Their facial expressions and poses are unexpected for
viewers, because they are totally different from typical images which we see
in illustrated books. By introducing 8 works, including 4 new works, the
exhibition aims to showcase a world of dry lacquer sculptures as portraits
of animals with their own unique names.
We do hope you find the opportunity to see and enjoy them.

Schedule

Apr 6 (Sat) 2019-Apr 21 (Sun) 2019