NEW YORK, NY.- After his highly successful exhibition, Surface Folds, in 2017, Ippodo Gallery is once again presenting Scenes of Lightness works from Yukiya Izumita’s Sekisoh and Fold series.

“I transform my chaotic inner thoughts to scenery using grains of soil, place them as if they were a piece of paper, and let it change in the hands of nature. It captures every moment and experience that has passed me by. These are the scenes of lightness, that make my heart feel a little less heavy with a tiny wind blowing inside me.” - Yukiya Izumita

In this show, Izumita continues his exploration of complex forms, where contradictions coexist. His pieces are born through the balance and tension between natural elements such as earth, air, fire, and water– pushing the boundaries of clay form. Tense, sharp, yet elegant and flowing, Izumita’s forms transcend into the world of origami.

These pieces carry a quality of weighlessness and ethereal flow, however, they also conjure a feeling of monumentality, like that of ancient landmarks conveying the profound passage of time. Picking up Izumita’s tea bowl, one can experience both a sense of lightness and weighted warmth.

As layered waves push through solid form, Izumita’s pieces breathe, like gentle wind blowing through a dense forest, his pieces remind us to appreciate the small moments of nature.

Trained in Kokuji-ware under Gakuho Shimodake in 1992, opening his own workshop in Noda Village, Iwate Prefecture in 1995. Izumita has had a lengthy career, with extensive acclaim in Japan. In Japan, Izumita has been the recipient of numerous accolades, such as the Excellence Award at the 20th Biennial Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition in 2009. His works are in public collections of the Yale University Art Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Iwate Museum of Art, and Tokonomae City Board of Education.