An exhibition of ceramic sculptures and wall reliefs by Tetsuya Yamada will be on display in the Paula Cooper Gallery vitrine in October 2025. Yamada is known for his rigorous investigation of the conceptual possibilities of clay, and his sensitivity to surfaces and materials. Each work employs ceramic in a surprising way, presenting forms that are playful, poetic and unexpected.
Meticulous techniques with glazes and clays allows Yamada to disguise ceramics as other media. Two sculptures formed of intersecting tubes of clay, for example, are glazed to resemble the patina of aluminum or oxidized copper, while a work from the Gravitation series presents a thin slab of clay, folded and hung over a rope like a piece of fabric.
On the walls are works from Yamada’s Smoke (2013) and Dust in the Rain (2021) series. In the earlier work, fingertip indentations are clustered together and overlapping, creating a complex surface structure that glistens with metallic glaze. The “dust” in Yamada’s recent panels refers to glass beads which the artist scattered atop the surface, allowing them to melt in the kiln and form constellations of colored dots.
A single work not in ceramic––Infinity, 2015––belies Yamada’s interest in found objects and the lasting influence of Duchamp and Brancusi. Four dowels mounted on a found panel support a taught rope in a diamond-shape, a simple arrangement of disparate parts captured in a moment of elegant coherence.
Tetsuya Yamada (b. 1968, Tokyo) studied traditional Japanese ceramics before moving to the USA in 1994. He received his MFA from Alfred University in 1997 and is currently a Professor at the University of Minnesota. Recent one-person exhibitions include Listening at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2024), and Shallow River at Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2022). Yamada has regularly organized site-specific “self-published” exhibitions in found spaces in Minneapolis such as a laundromat, hardware store, old gas station and restaurant. Yamada has participated in numerous residency programs including Kohler Arts/Industry (2002, 2009); the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2004); and the European Ceramic Work Center in Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands (2010). He is a recipient of the 2001 Tiffany Award, the 2005 McKnight Fellowship for Ceramic Artists administered by The Northern Clay Center, the 2014 and 2019 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Visual Artists administered by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, the 2011 Grand Prize at the Gyeonggi International Ceramix Biennale in South Korea, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023.