sculptor en iwamura debuts in hong kong with solo exhibition 'urlandschaft'

playful innocence through sculpture

Hong Kong’s WOAW Gallery presents the Asia solo debut of artist En Iwamura with an exhibition dubbed Urlandschaft. Responding to the state of confusion that had been experienced across the world, the Kyoto-based multidisciplinary artist seeks to express a sense of ‘lively and wondrous innocence’ with his sculptural work. With his playful ceramic pieces, Iwamura hopes to transport the viewer to a new, ‘metaphysical realm,’ inspiring contemplation and joy.

Neo Jomon: Beans, 2022

neutral faces animate abstract forms

Entitled Neo Jomon: Beans, the ceramic works of sculpture by En Iwamura (see more here) presents ‘simple round forms.’ These dynamic beings are carved with childlike expressions that, with their cartoon-like style, may remind the viewer of youth. Portraying themselves in pastel ombres, the shapes are cast to inspire a feeling of peace that is at once strange and familiar, resonating deeply and thematically with the artist’s abstract ink-on-paper paintings of neutral faces and geometrically fascinating patterns.

Similarly, the space at WOAW Gallery (see here) receives a newly developed installation of plants, created as an indoor garden to bring forth an ambiguous vision of tranquility that only exists in the viewer’s mind, and with it, the artist continues the exploration of Ma in his practice — the Japanese concept of space and movement.

Neo Jomon: Beans, 2022

en iwamura’s urlandschaft exhibition

As alluded by the exhibition title, the works on show depict ‘the original scenery from the bottom of the human heart, which are often accompanied by feelings of nostalgia but may also be a mental landscape rather than a real landscape,’ says En Iwamura.

Kyoto-born and based, En Iwamura is a Japanese artist holding two MFAs in Visual Arts/ Ceramics and Crafts/Ceramics respectively. His work has been exhibited in Belgium, France, Macau, Japan, and various cities in the United States. In 2018, he was an artist- in-residence at China’s Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute.

Neo Jomon: Beans, 2022
Neo Jomon: Beans, 2022