En Iwamura

Always Lonely is a presentation of new works by En Iwamura. The exhibition includes twelve ceramic sculptures and two monumental bronze sculptures, a new component of Iwamura's output, made as an emotional response to the ongoing pandemic.

"In the winter of 2019, there was a busy and bright future in front of me. Then, the world had changed. A suspicious atmosphere had gradually covered the world. My show had been canceled (postponed), all adventures were gone, we had been locked at home.

I was unsure about the future. The only thing I could do was to continue to make the work at an empty studio by myself for an exhibition that I didn’t know would exist. So, I was lonely…

After a few months, I had gotten used to my new lifestyle. Isolation was not only negative, but also, I had unexpected joyful holidays with my family. We had enough time to enjoy ordinary days without the cloud of others. That feeling was strange and new for me. I realized [in normal times] I was compelled to be busy and aggressive by the accelerated world.

However, still the pandemic had big impacts on my life. I had a call from my father one day that my grandmother was no longer healthy, she was about to conclude her life. I tried to visit her, but couldn’t. She passed alone. We could meet her at her funeral.

Many opposed feelings touch my heart every day. I sometimes appreciate this solitude, and sometimes hate it. I miss the trips and adventure, but at the same time, I am afraid to meet up with people. This juxtaposition of two opposed feelings encouraged me to plan the new installation of Still Dreaming Girl and Lonely En."

The two bronzes, Still Dreaming Girl (eight feet in height), and Lonely En (nearly seven feet in height), that anchor the exhibition were created from molds built around sculptures Iwamura completed in his usual manner of working – hand built ceramics. The artist had these ceramics 3-D scanned and enlarged to create a perfectly scaled-up facsimile with which to create a mold. The mold was then cast in bronze and finished with a hand-applied patina.

Accompanying the bronze works are examples of Iwamura’s ongoing colorful, glazed ceramic Neo-Jomon series. His term, “Neo-Jomon” originates in the titling of works with raked striations in the surface of the clay. These lines deposit a sense of calm upon the viewer, recalling Buddhist Zen gardens, which originated in the artist’s birthplace of Kyoto, Japan. The term is a reference to Jōmon culture, the earliest major culture of prehistoric Japan, characterized by cord-patterned pottery. This ancient cord pattern establishes a context for Iwamura’s raked surface, setting him up as a successor in the historical tradition of Japanese ceramicists.

En Iwamura was born in Kyoto, Japan in 1988, where he continues to live and work today. He earned his BFA and first MFA from the Kanazawa College of Art and Craft in Kanazawa, Japan in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and earned a second MFA from Clemson University in 2016. Iwamura has completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana (2016-2018), and the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China (2018), among others. Most notably he has been exhibited in the American Museum of Ceramic Art, in Pomona, CA (2019) as well as being the subject of 2018 and 2019 solo presentations by Ross + Kramer Gallery in East Hampton and at Untitled Art Fair in Miami.