Masayasu Mitsuke

Masayasu Mitsuke was born in Kaga, Ishikawa and bases in Kaga. After graduating from Ishikawa Prefectural Kutani Ware Technical Research Institute, he studied under Buzan Fukushima and obtained Kutani’s traditional techniques of red painting on ceramics.

Red painting (Aka-e) is painted in iron oxide. It originated in Song Dynasty period in China and got introduced to Japan later on. However it developed its decoration in Imari, Kyoto and Kutani before becoming the present form. Mitsuke paints human figures, flowers and birds following the traditional Aka-e style, and in contrast his designs and patterns with delicate line drawing are unique and distinctive. His magnificent technique needs no saying, but moreover he succeeds in achieving unprecedented overall image by skillfully using Youraku and Shippoumon, the patterns that have been passed down since ancient times. This trend is especially remarkable in painting large plates. They make good uses of the center of the plate and they seem to reach a goal of Kutani Ware.

[ Masayasu Mitsuke ] Born in Ishikawa in 1975. Completed Ishikawa Prefectural Kutani Ware Technical Training Center. Lives and works in Ishikawa, Japan. Recent exhibitions include "COMTEMPORARY JAPANESE CRAFTS Reinterpretation, Exquisite Craftsmanship, and Aesthetic Exploration" (tour) Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Aichi / Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art, Kyoto / Miyazaki Art Center, Miyazaki / Panasonic Shiodome Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (2020-2022), "Japanese Kōgei | Future Forward" The Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2015), "LOGICAL EMOTION - CONTEMPORARY ART FROM JAPAN" (tour) Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale), Germany / Museum of Contemporay Art in Krakow, Poland / Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Switzerland (2014-15) and "Art Crafting Towards the Future" 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Ishikawa, Japan (2012). Major awards include Incentive Award at “39th POLA Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Japanese Culture” (2019), “9th Paramita Ceramic Art Grand Prize” (2014).