Kohei Ukai
Kohei Ukai was born in 1993 in Aichi. After completing his Master's degree in Fine Art at the Kanazawa College of Art, Kohei pursued his education with three years of residency at the Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo. A program aimed at developing young talents and promoting the craftsmanship of local and Japanese arts. Over the years of apprenticeship, Kohei developed his own Art path, supported by many renowned and established craftsmen.
Kohei Ukai’s studio is based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, in nature, halfway up the mountain. Kohei's technique consists of wood carving to first obtain the desired shape and of multiple layers of lacquer, Urushi, to get to this unique finish that makes Kohei's work so special. Urushi is the tree sap produced when a tree is damaged or a branch is broken, an ancestral technique that continues to be used today for its unique properties.
Attracted by the symbiotic relationship between Urushi and wood, he creates sculptures using mostly camphor, Katsura and Keyaki trees. Urushi itself evokes the natural world, and its use in Ukai’s sculptures should not be seen as a decorating material.
Both as a medium and as a material, lacquer is indigenous to Japan and its craftsmanship is ancestral; Kohei’s work might then be seen as a bridge between tradition and modernity and must be interpreted in a much wider conception of art.
The polish lacquer surface reflects light while capturing its surroundings and our perception of the form of his sculptures might change depending on the light. Kohei plays with contrasts as some parts of the sculpture let appear the textured shape and nature of the wood while others are polished and appear melting off. He feels a sense of humanity through the creating process that implies the repetition of the gestures, like going back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. Kohei Ukai aims to create a unique style of expression through the lacquer material to reach out and inspire viewers but also to leave traces for eternity.
His work has attracted the attention of art galleries and art fairs in Japan and abroad, and it has been featured in numerous exhibitions. In 2018, he received the Award of Urushi (Japan Urushi Association) and in 2020 he was a finalist of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize.
Selected works
-
![Fusion 22-01]()
![Fusion 22-01]()
Fusion 22-01
SKU 00072Out of StockMore information
AIFA - A. Iynedjian Fine Art Sarl
Rue de la Poste 6
1936 Verbier, Switzerland
Contact
Adrien Iynedjian, Director Switzerland
a@aifa.art / +41 79 834 23 47