Throw Back Thursday: A Tale of Plant & Pot, LA and Kyoto
Throw Back Thursday; A Tale of Plant & Pot — An exhibition initiated by Chariots on Fire featuring special commissions from Adam Silverman (LA) and Oda Kohei, Qusamura (Japan) in Spring & Fall of 2014 in Los Angeles and Kyoto.
Fascinated by the relationship of art to nature, Chariots on Fire commissioned renowned LA-based potter Adam Silverman to create a new set of work filled with the plant artistry of Kohei Oda, owner of Qusamura, an award-winning plant shop in Japan. While the two worked independently they shared a common vision based on their love of the natural world and the age-old harmony between pot and plant. The result was an exchange of ideas designed like the best of relationships, formed by common interest and a shared understanding of space and form.
The strangely beautiful glazes and finishes of Adam Silverman’s pots are both challenging and rewarding in equal measure. For A Tale of Plant & Pot he focused on that most basic element of nature: the earth, knowing that each pot will then be presented to Kohei Oda to complete the story that he has begun. Kohei Oda’s philosophy has always been to work with plants that has personality, using grafting techniques to salvage what could be discarded as a damaged plant, to see the potential in each perceived imperfection. In Japanese the word for horticulture is EN-GEI: EN — meaning garden, GEI — meaning performance. For Oda it is the GEI part that is meaningful. His plants perform as individuals, each as unique as Adam’s pots. A Tale of Plant & Pot opens a dialogue between Adam and Oda and their work, two talented makers that by remarkable serendipity, share a mutual love of the beauty to be found in the perfectly imperfect.
In this exciting collaboration, Chariots on Fire presented modern plant-scapes, living sculptures, a show of uncommon harmonies, expanding the boundaries of both pot and plant, giving new contexts through which we can explore and interpret both artists’ work and above all enjoy the fruits of their union.
A TALE OF PLANT & POT, 2014
Graft Cactus by Oda Kohei, Qusamura
Pots by Adam Silverman
In Private Collections
Creative Direction & Conception: Chariots on Fire, Ritsuko Yagi
Graphic Design: Tamotsu Yagi Design
Kyoto Advisory: Ko Kado, Kamisoe
Los Angeles Photography: Yoko Takahashi, Joshua White
Kyoto Photography: Shuji Yoshida
Special Thanks: Heath Ceramics, Junco Ida, Shinsuke Ito,
Oriana Reich, Mayer Rus, Takumi Yagi, Kulapat Yantrasast.
LOS ANGELES 4/27 — 5/7, 2014
at Chariots on Fire
KYOTO 10/18 — 10/31, 2014
exhibited at
Books & Things
Fuka
Kamisoe
Kanei
Mitate
Naito Gion
ZEN Cafe, Kagizen