(Left): Tokuda Yasokichi III, Jar, deep blue brilliant glazes, wave pattern, 2005, porcelain with vivid colored glaze (yosai), 7 1/2 x 10 in (19 x 25.5 cm); (Right): Tokuda Yasokichi IV, Jar, Loulan, 2010, porcelain with vivid colored glaze (yosai), 17 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 in (43.2 x 21.6 x 21.6 cm)

KOGEI and Art
Closing Friday, June 20, 2025
16 East 79th Street

This is the last week to experience KOGEI and Art at Onishi Gallery before the exhibition closes on June 20! This dynamic exhibition highlights contemporary works across a range of KOGEI media, including metalwork, lacquerware, ceramics, painting, and screens, celebrating the enduring legacy and innovation of Japanese craftsmanship.

“KOGEI” refers to works made using materials and methods that have stood the test of time, reflecting uncompromising dedication to technical perfection and a search for new forms of expression. This exhibition highlights the growing role of KOGEI in contemporary Western lifestyle and global art and design. The title KOGEI and Art is given to reflect the unique character of KOGEI, not seen in other cultures, and to emphasize its separate but complementary status compared to “Art” in the conventional Western sense.

The first category is Metalwork, including works by artists whose works were shown in Japan: A History of Style (2021) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and subsequently acquired by the Museum, or are currently on display in Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, comprising masterpieces from the Shirley Z. Johnson Bequest. The second category is Lacquerware by artists who participated in The Spirit of Noto: Urushi Artists of Wajima, held at Onishi Gallery in October 2024 and highlighting leading figures from a region whose tradition of lacquer production dates back more than five centuries. The third category is Ceramics, an aspect of KOGEI that Onishi Gallery has foregrounded ever since its opening in 2005.

The show includes works by numerous Living National Treasures of Japan such as Ōsumi Yukie, Nakagawa Mamoru, Katsura Morihito, Tamagawa Norio, Murose Kazumi, Yamagishi Kazuo, Imaizumi Imaemon XIV, and Yoshita Minori as well as younger artists including Onihira Keiji, Noguchi Ken, Rusu Aki, and Konno Tomoko, creating a lively intergenerational dialogue within Onishi Gallery’s historical space in the Sidney Ripley mansion, built in 1905 and designed by Warren and Wetmore in Neo-Georgian style. They are also delighted to premiere a new jewelry artist, George Inaki Root, whose practice is based on kintsugi , the Japanese philosophy of “mended, not broken.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to experience these timeless pieces today!

To learn more and view their online brochure, click here.