ISHIZUKA Genta (Artist)
Written by TOMIKAWA Kyōko
《Taxis Groove (Torn) 》2025｜Urushi, hemp cloth, other | Kanshitsu-technique｜116 x 86.5 x 90.3 cm ｜Photo: KORODA Takeru. Courtesy of ARTCOURT Gallery
Coming face-to-face with the works of ISHIZUKA Genta (石塚 源太), one cannot help but feel a sense of dissonance.
The surfaces appear smooth—sometimes glossy, sometimes gluey, and even soft and slippery. Yet, of course, since the lacquer is dry, it must surely feel hard to the touch.
The red and black areas, with their bumpy textures, resemble mucous membranes or internal organs, possibly even ulcers or tumours. They may also evoke images of dense gas clouds in some distant nebula, radiating a cohesive energy, as if something momentous is about to unfold.
A work displayed in the studio. Seeming to mirror inner thoughts, its glossy surface reflects the viewers’ own image.
ISHIZUKA’s works, markedly different in appearance from what is commonly called “lacquerware”, compel viewers to stop and take notice.
ISHIZUKA’s artworks in his studio. Depending on how the lacquer is polished, its expression changes completely—some surfaces appear richly red, others deeply black.
Drawing it out from the realm of non-being, ISHIZUKA’s works capture something that had never existed before in the space between natural forces and humanity.
“I believe that the true essence of craftsmanship lies in bringing out the vigour of the material and appealing to the sense of touch.”
To refine the lacquer surface, ISHIZUKA literally uses whetstones to “polish it out”. His intuition determines how far to go.
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ISHIZUKA Genta loved making toys from a young age.
“Growing up with a furniture craftsman father, when I wanted to make a dinosaur toy, I would roll up paper to form the shape and then cover it with more paper.”
He loved the process of creating and enjoyed the time he spent making things as a child.
After entering the Department of Craft at Kyoto City University of Arts, ISHIZUKA explored ceramics, textile dyeing, and ultimately chose to specialise in urushi lacquering.
“Lacquer appealed to me because I could make everything entirely by hand from start to finish, and it was easy to visualise the scale of the work.”
Lacquer is often seen as something primarily functional, used in everyday life. However, ISHIZUKA never intended to create objects with a practical use.
“I wanted to explore how I could express myself using the texture of lacquer—creating something that would truly capture people’s hearts.”
ISHIZUKA being interviewed in his studio. Experimental ceramics collected as a hobby are also displayed.
However, what exactly should he create, and how…?
In the midst of this restless questioning, in around 2003 ISHIZUKA happened upon products from MUJI.
“At that time, MUJI’s product designs were fascinating—there was a wall-mounted CD player activated by pulling a string like a ventilation fan. It was really intriguing.”
These appliances were part of a series designed by the internationally renowned product designer FUKASAWA Naoto (深澤 直人), who describes the foundation of his design philosophy as “making the everyday unfamiliar and rediscovering it.”
“Curious, I looked into FUKASAWA’s writings and encountered the word ‘affordance’ by the American perceptual psychologist James J. GIBSON.”
Using ducts for air flow and hoses for drainage, forms are created—giving rise to new discoveries.
GIBSON’s concept of “affordance” refers to the “meaning or value that the environment offers to animals.”
“GIBSON called the air in the atmosphere the ‘medium’, the heterogeneous mixture of soil and rocks at a location the ‘substance’, and the boundaries between these the ‘surface’. He proposed that all things in an animal’s environment, including humans, have surfaces. These surfaces have textures, and animals live within this layout. I found this idea fascinating because it closely relates to the lacquer work of applying and polishing surfaces.”
“I used to think of creating artworks as an individual action upon materials, but discovering the viewpoint that comes from the material itself was eye-opening for me.”
Through FUKASAWA Naoto, ISHIZUKA encountered GIBSON’s writings, which he says, “changed the way I see the world.”
Samples of works displayed on the studio wall. Shape, colour, thickness… various experiments.
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While organising his pencil case, which he had used when taking his art university entrance exams, ISHIZUKA found several broken utility knife blades alongside his pencils.
“If I line them up, they’d probably form a geometric pattern like a puzzle.”
These utility knife blades, used for cutting and discarded when dull, suddenly seemed to lead to a beauty unlike anything he had seen before.
It was the moment when his adventure of “making the everyday unfamiliar and rediscovering it” through form began.
In lacquering, there are techniques called raden (螺鈿), heidatsu (平脱), and hyōmon (平文), which involve cutting patterns out of thin sheets of mother-of-pearl, gold, silver, or other metals, applying them to lacquered surfaces, then layering lacquer over them, drying, and polishing to reveal the pattern.
ISHIZUKA began experimenting with these techniques by embedding everyday objects such as utility knife blades and stapler pins in lacquer sap, then polishing them out.
He realised that “my daily life and lacquer literally become one plane. I realised that it is possible to use lacquer as a ‘medium’ to bring this out.”
“People carry memories of the thinness of knives or thickness of stapler pins. But if they appear before their eyes within a completely flat art work, will they remember the sense of touch, or feel something completely different. I wanted to create works that evoke such sensations.”
LEFT 《Thickness of surface-staples-》2005｜Urushi (lacquer), stapler pins, wood｜60 x 60 x 1.8 cm｜photo: KORODA Takeru RIGHT Closeup of the work: stapler pins arranged in concentric circles and polished out.
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After advancing to graduate school, ISHIZUKA Genta participated in an exchange programme at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. Choosing to study Design Products, he gained more than design skills—he learned the importance of the process of imagination, and the need to effectively present the expressive potential of his work to others.
Until then, ISHIZUKA had crafted his works entirely by hand from start to finish. While this demonstrated the possibilities inherent in the outcome of “shaping something”, he realised the significance of inspiring imagination and of verbalising the potential that unfolds through the process itself, while presenting a prototype.
“It was enriching that I was able to experience contemporary art and design firsthand in museums and galleries in London. After returning to Japan, for a while I felt as though I had seen and touched something extraordinary… and it took me two or three years to find the right balance between input and output through my own work.”
ISHIZUKA working on a new piece in his studio. The studio space is thoughtfully divided according to the different stages of the creative process.
Through numerous experiments that followed, ISHIZUKA became increasingly aware of the very place where the lustre of lacquer emerges, the “surface”. This led naturally to the perception of the surface as a “membrane” or a “skin”.
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《Surface Tactility #12》2019｜Urushi, hemp cloth, polystyrene foam ball, 2 way tricot ｜Kanshitsu-technique｜95.5 x 84 x 80.5 cm｜Photo: KORODA Takeru. Courtesy of ARTCOURT Gallery
The new motif that ISHIZUKA encountered was, surprisingly, mandarin oranges in a mesh bag.
“At the time, I saw mandarins sold in red nets at the supermarket. They looked like a single textured mass, but through the net, each individual mandarin was visible, and I found the structure of their shapes fascinating.”
He actually bought some fruit nets and placed small polystyrene foam spheres into them. This marked the beginning of his studio experiments.
The origin of the works placed in the studio. ISHIZUKA employs the kanshitsu-technique, traditionally used for Buddhist statues. Polystyrene foam spheres covered with nets are layered with pieces of lacquered hemp cloth to build strength, followed by several applications of lacquer base coats and finishes.
A prototype made of lacquered hemp cloth and polystyrene foam. Lacquer is gradually layered onto this, transforming the rough texture of the hemp surface into a glossy “membrane”.
A sack was made from stretchable fabric, then filled with several polystyrene foam balls to create a single mass. Only three points of the shape touch the floor, which is the minimum required for it to stand on its own. A mass covered with a membrane maintains its balance under the strain of gravity.
On this surface, pieces of lacquered hemp cloth are applied, which serve as a base to strengthen the structure. The piece is then finished with layers of lacquer. This so-called kanshitsu-technique (乾漆技法) is used because of its plasticity. It originated in the Nara period (710-794) as a method for crafting Buddhist statues.
The spheres push the membrane outward from the inside, upon which lacquer layers are gradually applied. As the artist’s embodiment influences the surface, subtle undulation in the polished lacquer and underlaying textures—appearing as noise—emerge on the epidermis of the piece. These create a boundary of surface, and exist within the slight difference in thickness between inside and outside.
This series came to be titled “Surface Tactility”. Although they appear to be mere epidermis or membranes, they evoke a strong sense of presence from within.
ISHIZUKA’s works are created in a variety of sizes. These differences in scale invite viewers to engage their thoughts in proportion to each piece’s dimensions.
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《Surface Tactility (on wall) #6》2021｜Urushi, hemp cloth ｜Kanshitsu-technique｜104×142.5×50 cm｜Photo: KORODA Takeru. Courtesy of ARTCOURT Gallery
ISHIZUKA Genta later presented works to hang on walls by cutting the “Surface Tactility” series into two parts. By adding the three-dimensional surface he created onto the two-dimensional wall planes, the whole room seemed to integrate into a single membrane. When ISHIZUKA cut the pieces to mount them on the wall, he saw the inner side—previously hidden from view—for the first time.
“When I saw the inside, which I had never seen before, I realised that the inside is also a skin. It stands as an independent membrane.
If the smooth surface represents
‘haré’ (ハレ: extraordinary occasions such as the festive, ritual event),
then the rough interior is
‘ké ’ (ケ: the mundane, ordinary, everyday life).”
Realising that “the inside is also a skin” and confirming the whole as a “membrane-shaped form”, was a significant milestone for him.
Cut in half and fitted with a wooden lid, mounting the piece on a wall creates a fresh perspective.
ISHIZUKA states that a membrane is “never a disconnected surface”, and with his strong awareness of concepts like “surface”, “membrane”, and “epidermis”, he continues his work while contemplating whether there truly is no boundary between the outside and the inside.
《Absence – holes #3》2023｜Urushi, hemp cloth｜Kanshitsu-technique｜34.0x 23.5x 24.7 ㎝
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ISHIZUKA often visits home centres in search of materials for his work.
“Often, the inspiration for creating a piece comes from surprisingly ordinary, everyday things. Honestly, it might be something seemingly trivial. But I do believe art is about leaping from such everyday objects, and creativity is about pointing to new ways of seeing.”
Throughout the interview, ISHIZUKA repeatedly expressed his strong conviction that not just lacquer but “all materials should be shown in their own appropriate forms.”
“I want to reveal the expressions that lacquer desires by itself. I want to show lacquer in its own appropriate state.”
“It’s not about showing myself, but showing the materials. The material exists, I exist, and I explore the space between us.”
Lacquerware vessels discovered during his travels or at favourite galleries. After a long passage of time, they remain beautifully preserved.
In one corner of ISHIZUKA’s studio, a collection of antique lacquerware is displayed. It seemed clear that these pieces quietly yet surely continue to influence and blend into his own creations.
These everyday utilitarian works, crafted by artisans of the past, perfectly embody the beauty of function. Even after more than a hundred years, they still offer solace to the hearts of those who behold them.
A bowl likely used by past artisans for mixing lacquer.
Looking back, lacquer, introduced to the West under the name “japan”, was a glittering “winner’s possession” with its taka-maki-é※ and raden (螺鈿: mother-of-pearl inlays). They were the possessions of the haré, celebrative occasions.
However, lacquer in Japan was originally made by our ancestors for everyday use. It was the possession of common folk living in villages and towns. Was this not the realm of mundane ké?
ISHIZUKA, who says “if the smooth surface is haré, then the rough interior is ké”, attempts to bring these two different aspects of lacquer—the haré and the ké—into coexistence.
“I want to reveal the expressions lacquer itself desires. I want to show lacquer in its own appropriate state.”
This surely must be ISHIZUKA’s most important commitment.
※ taka-maki-é (高蒔絵) is a traditional decorative technique drawing on dried lacquer creating elevated patterns and then sprinkling precious metals or pigments over it.
The process of polishing lacquer. It is ISHIZUKA’s own sensibility that decides when a piece is complete.
In 2022, ISHIZUKA moved his atelier to Kameoka in Kyoto.
Around him roam deer, wild boar, and pheasants. There are rice fields and mountains, too.
“When I first moved here, I accidentally hit a deer with my car.”
Fortunately, the deer escaped unharmed, but that incident made him realise that this area is not governed solely by human rules.
He says that reflecting on such unexpected events leads him to discover new possibilities
and aspects of materials within his work.
Here in Kameoka, ISHIZUKA continues to create works that kindle the human spirit.
Profile
Born in Kyoto in 1982, ISHIZUKA Genta graduated from the Urushi Lacquering program of the Department of Crafts of Kyoto City University of Arts in 2006, after which he went to London to study as an exchange student at the Royal College of Art. In 2008 he gained a Master’s degree in Urushi Lacquering from the same institution.
He has contributed to exhibitions including Visionaries: Making Another Perspective at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Shippudoto at Wajima Museum of Urushi Art, Ishikawa (2023), the 4th Triennale of KOGEI in Kanazawa (KOGEI as Contemporary Craft: Transcending Boundaries) at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2019), and Hard Bodies at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2017). In 2019 he was awarded the annual Loewe Foundation Craft Prize and the Best Young Artist Award from the City of Kyoto. His works are in the collection of the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum, among others.
LINKS:
Instagram:
@genta_ishizuka
Homepage:
gentaishizuka.com
Photographed by TODOROKI Azusa (轟 あずさ)
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