Hayashi Yasuo 林康夫 (b. 1928), Scenes of Namie Town Series created between 2020-2025

Memories of a House
Hayashi Yasuo Solo Exhibition
Closing Thursday, February 5, 2026
18 East 64th Street, Ste 1F

This is the last week to catch the final overseas solo exhibition of the modern ceramic master Hayashi Yasuo (b. 1928) at Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.  A pivotal figure of Japan’s first postwar generation of ceramic artists, Hayashi helped redefine the field of contemporary Japanese ceramics. The exhibition presents an intimate selection of works spanning from 1969 to the present, tracing key moments in an extraordinary artistic practice that has unfolded over more than eight decades.

Born in Kyoto in 1928, Hayashi Yasuo was shaped by the upheavals of World War II, having been drafted as a kamikaze pilot before the war’s sudden end. In the postwar years, he engaged with leading cultural figures such as Noguchi Isamu, exhibiting with him in Paris in 1947, and co-founded Shikō-kai that same year—Kyoto’s first avant-garde sculptural ceramic movement—introducing obuje-yaki works that challenged Japan’s traditional vessel-based ceramics.

This exhibition features works from Hayashi’s early period, alongside rare examples from the 1960s and 1970s, including biomorphic forms inspired by Surrealist Max Ernst, noted for their sensuous contours and rich red surfaces. Also included are pieces from his ongoing “Memories of a House” series, reflecting his wartime night flights over Kyoto and the psychological impressions of mortality they left.

At 97, Hayashi continues to create, including his Scenes of Namie Town series, remembering the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami and reaffirming his belief in art as a vessel for humanity, memory, and history.

To view the exhibition catalog, click here.

To learn more, click here.