I was so upset at the end of May, when I had a few days spare in my hands and trotted full of excitement to the Annely Juda Art Gallery on the back of Oxford Street. It was closed because of the Jubilee Bank Holiday and I forgot to check their opening hours. Well never mind. A dear friend sent me a message a few days ago reminding me to go and see this amazing exhibition focused on two artists: a Russian and a Japanese. WOW, Such a great combination in the settled of their colours. Two media completely opposite and still contrapposing. Drawing by Kasimir Malevich and a selection of tea bowls by Raku Kichizaemon XV.
So here I am ..immersed, surrounded … experiencing my idea of Paradise.
Annely Juda Fine Art hosting until today ((july 2022) a selection of 20 drawings by Kasimir Malevich (1879- 1935) and 20 tea bowls by Raku Jikinyū (b.1949) from his recent White Rock series.
The exhibition also includes one classic Black Raku tea bowl made in the early 1580s by the first Raku master Chōjirō (d.1589).
The London show is following the exhibition Kichizaemon X Malevich held from September 2021 to January 2022 at the Sagawa Art Museum in Japan and will be the first time for the work of Jikinyū to be shown in the UK.
Raku tea bowls are shaped by hand and are drawn from the kiln at the height of the firing so that they cool rapidly in the atmosphere outside.
The Raku family has lived and worked on the same plot of land in Kyoto since 1586. Jikinyū succeeded to the family headship as Raku Kichizaemon XV in 1981 and assumed the name Jikinyū when he retired in favour of his elder son, who became Raku Kichizaemon XVI in July 2019. He has devoted his career to exploring the possibilities of the traditional tea bowl format in a constant search for new modes of expression. His tea bowls are characterised by bold sculptural trimming and the creative use of the yakinuki firing method.
There is also a selected collection of drawings by Kasimir Malevich, an important avant-garde artist born in Kiev in 1879, famous as the pioneer of Suprematism and the championing of non-objectivity. His most representative works are his Black Square painting of 1915 and his White on White of 1918. These seminal modernist works had a major influence on the development of 20th century abstract art and minimalism.
This exhibition is the result of a long friendship between David Juda, Raku Jikinyū and his wife Fujiko.
Such a joy. If you can’t see the exhibition .. make sure you watch the video on their website and please grab the catalogue…
MORE INFO
Kasimir Malevich, Raku Kichizaemon XV
Fourth Floor – 12 May – 9 July 2022
Annely Juda Fine Art Gallery
This type of tea bowls main purpose is for drinking matcha tea in the tea ceremony (chanoyu). ‘Radically avant-garde’ and pioneered back then (by renowned tea master Sen Rikyū 1522-91) .. the tea bowls in this exhibition at the Annely Juda Fine Art Gallery by Master Raku Kichizaemon XV are a joy for the eyes and at the same time they calm you down and make you reflect on the fastness of our own life in contemporary days.
Images : Annely Jura Fine Art Gallery and from the visit Mari Balsama Wilson
Mari Balsamà Wilson 
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