With two weeks until the opening of KOIKE SHŌKO’s solo exhibition Beyond the Sea, the majority of large-scale works have already sold to private collectors throughout the world. This is the second major solo show of KOIKE SHŌKO at Joan B. Mirviss LTD, and it features over 20 sculptural shell forms. The exhibition will first be shown at Salon: Art + Design (November 14-18) and thereafter at Joan B. Mirviss LTD (November 22-December 13).

Like many Japanese artists KOIKE SHŌKO draws from nature as her primary source of inspiration, returning to her theme of underwater sea mollusks. Heavily influenced by the ocean, Koike produces works that embody not only its grace and beauty, but also its dynamic power. The spiked, zigzagged, and ridged shell exterior surfaces are formed with layers
of Shigaraki clay that are hand-folded, pinched and crimped, before being scratched to reveal hints of color and texture. They are then wrapped with multiple applications of creamy white and deep brown iron oxide glazes that surround the sensuous, gaping mouths into which the interiors have been covered in thick turquoise glaze. Koike often highlights the outside edges with streaks of metallic or lavender glaze, ultimately creating works that appear to be moving and buoyant while at the same time firmly grounded to realm of the sea.

As one of the first female graduates from the prestigious ceramics department of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Koike Shōko is among very few women ceramists of her generation to be self supporting as a studio-artist. In so doing, she has become one of the most recognized female ceramists in Japan with works in important museum
collections throughout the world, including the Cleveland Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; and Victoria & Albert Museum. Several years ago, Koike was awarded the highly important Japan Ceramic Society Prize and she has been featured in two Japanese public television shows devoted solely to her work.

EXHIBITION
NOVEMBER 14 - 18 at SALON: Art + Design
PARK AVENUE ARMORY (AT 66TH STREET)
NEW YORK, NY
FRIDAY & SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15 - 16TH 11 AM - 9 PM
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17TH NOON - 7 PM
MONDAY NOVEMBER 18TH 11 AM - 5 PM
NOVEMBER 22 – DECEMBER 13 at
JOAN B. MIRVISS LTD.
39 EAST 78TH STREET 4TH FL
NEW YORK, NY 10075
MONDAY-FRIDAY 11AM - 6PM

NOVEMBER 14 – DECEMBER 13, 2013
JOAN B MIRVISS LTD. 39 EAST 78TH STREET NYC