Sakamoto Kai

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Photo: Kimino Mutsuki

Born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1997. Sakamoto graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design (now Kyoto University of the Art) with a degree in mixed media in 2019. While in school, he studied ceramics by working as an assistant to a ceramic artist. His creative process involves collecting clay and stones from various regions and firing the works in self-made clay kilns. Focusing on the process of “ceramic art” itself, from creation to use, he seeks to embody it in his work. His recent work, Fire, Earth, and Eating, consists of a kiln and a stop-motion animation that captures the process of shaping the earth into a kiln, firing the kiln, cooking food in it, and eating the food. As Sakamoto wrote, “What I want to capture is not the earthenware itself, but the moment embodied in the earthenware, when the food, the earth, and the fire intermingle,” he aims to demolish and reconstruct the framework of ceramic art by returning to that moment when everything mingles: the various inherent phenomena of ceramics; the act of eating that follows them, which is a fundamental part of human life; and the resulting relationships between humans and animals.
His major exhibitions include the solo shows Sakamoto Kai: Fire, Earth, and Eating (The Triangle at Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art, Kyoto, 2025), and Vessels, Resembling Human (Gallery Maronie, Kyoto, 2018), as well as the group exhibitions at Nakarai Tosui Art Fest. Chandelier (Nakarai Tosui Kan, Nagasaki Prefecture, 2024) and Atami Art Grant 2023 (Atami Station Underground Passage, Shizuoka Prefecture, 2023).

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