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Multiple international public art projects are in the works this summer, some involving long-time collaborators Derix Glasstudios and Artworks Foundry. We look forward to sharing more exciting details with you as these projects develop. Planning continues for several upcoming exhibitions, including at the Portland Japanese Garden (Oregon) and Gerald Peters Gallery (Santa Fe, NM). In August, the studio welcomes a visit from GRAMMY-nominated composer Andy Akiho, who is drawing inspiration from Kaneko's artwork for a new original composition premiering with Omaha Symphony next spring. Amidst all this activity, Jun Kaneko has been working on a variety of new ceramic artworks at his Omaha studio. Keep an eye out for these new pieces, and more opportunities to experience Jun Kaneko’s work, both in future newsletters and at junkaneko.com.
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EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
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We hope you have the opportunity to enjoy these exhibitions and share them with your friends and colleagues.
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HECKSCHER MUSEUM OF ART
Global Asias: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art from the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation
June 4 - September 18, 2022
Huntington, NY
The Global Asias exhibition opened at its third stop on June 4th at the Heckscher Museum of Art. Curated by Chang Tan, Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian Studies at Penn State, this exhibition demonstrates the variety of ways artists confront and transform the concept of identity. The exhibition includes the artists Kwang-Young Chun, Jacob Hashimoto, Jun Kaneko, Hiroki Morinoue, Dinh Q. Le, Barbara Takenaga, Roger Shimomura, Do Ho Suh, Rirkirt Tiravanjia, Hung Liu, Takashi Murakami, Akio Takamori, and Patti Warashina. The first stop on the exhibition's tour, the The Palmer Museum, prepared a virtual interactive tour of the exhibit. Traveling through summer of 2023, the exhibition will also be hosted at:
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ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Pure Form: Japanese Sculptural Ceramics
May 21- November 06, 2022
Adelaide, SA, Australia
A Jun Kaneko sculpture, on loan from the National Gallery of Australia, will be featured in this exhibition of sculptural ceramics. The sculpture (pictured below) was donated to the National Gallery of Australia in 2005 by Raphy Star. Learn more about the exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
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Untitled, Dango, 2004, glazed ceramics, 58 x 45 x 19 inches. Photo by Dirk Bakker.
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GERALD PETERS GALLERY
September 9 - November 26, 2022
Santa Fe, NM
Save the date for a solo exhibition of Kaneko's new works at Gerald Peters Gallery.
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PORTLAND JAPANESE GARDEN
The Art of Jun Kaneko: Garden of Resonance
October 1, 2022 - February 20th, 2023
Portland, OR
The Portland Japanese Garden will host an indoor/outdoor exhibition of works from throughout Kaneko's career. The exhibition will include sculpture installations in the gardens, as well as paintings and drawings in their Pavilion Gallery.
The Garden's Curator of Art, Culture, and Education, Akihito Nakanishi, and Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Associate Curator, Dr. Frank Feltens, have both recently visited the studio in preparation for this exhibition.
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Views at the Portland Japanese Garden. Photo credit: Daderot
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UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS
Pécs, Hungary
Ree & Jun Kaneko are donating a pair of Heads to the University of Pécs in Pécs, Hungary. The pieces will be installed this September in the University's new Medical School building. Kaneko was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 2018. We look forward to sharing photos of the installation with you next fall.
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Untitled, Heads, 2016, glazed ceramics and stainless steel, left: 69 x 25.75 x 20 inches, right: 69 x 24.5 x 20 inches. Photo credit: Colin Conces.
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GATES: COLLABORATION WITH TONY HEPBURN
1984-1986
In summer 1981, Tony Hepburn was one of the first artists invited to hold a workshop at the Omaha Brickworks / Alternative Worksite program founded by Ree Kaneko in Omaha, NE. This program would later evolve into the Bemis Foundation, which Hepburn Co-Founded with Ree and Jun Kaneko and Lorne Falk. Hepburn cited “stacking wet bricks at the Omaha Brickworks” as one of the experiences that turned his sculptural interest to more vertical forms, causing him to begin his “Gate” and “Totemic” series.1 This Gate from the Brickworks was installed on the roof balcony of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce in 1983, where it remained for a time before being acquired by the Bemis Center.
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Tony Hepburn on the April 1982 cover of Ceramics Monthly with a Gate sculpture at the Omaha Brickworks. Cover photo courtesy of Ree Kaneko. / The Gate installed at the Omaha chamber of Commerce in 1983.
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Jun Kaneko and Tony Hepburn collaborated on other ceramic “Gates” over the following years. One, Cranbrook Gate, was built by Hepburn in March of 1984 while he was a visiting artist at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Kaneko was head of the Ceramics department. Kaneko contributed additional pieces to the form and glazed it with a dotted surface pattern. This Cranbrook Gate was then temporarily installed on the Cranbrook campus in 1985.
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Tony Hepburn building the Cranbrook Gate at Cranbrook Academy of Art. | Kaneko's alterations to the unfinished piece, with Hepburn's drawing visible in the background. | Completed Cranbrook Gate installed on campus at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Photos courtesy of the Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation.
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Another Gate by Hepburn and Kaneko was built at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in June of 1984. Again, Kaneko made additions and alterations to Hepburn’s original form before it was bisque fired and shipped to Omaha.
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Hepburn and Kaneko at Anderson Ranch. Photos courtesy of the Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation.
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Kaneko and Hepburn then glazed this Gate together in 1986 at Kaneko’s first Omaha studio at 616 S. 11th St. The artists created a painterly surface pattern for this Omaha Gate, full of colorful brushstrokes and splatters.
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Jun Kaneko and Tony Hepburn working on Omaha Gate at Kaneko's Omaha studio. Photos courtesy of the Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation.
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The Omaha Gate and Cranbrook Gate are now part of the Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation’s Permanent Collection.
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Cranbrook Gate, 1985, glazed ceramics, 77.5 x 77 x 62”. Omaha Gate, 1986, glazed ceramics, 84 x 67.75 x 21.75”. Photos courtesy of the Ree & Jun Kaneko Foundation.
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Footnotes:
1. Tony Hepburn, American Ceramics 1, no. 2 (Spring 1982).
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