Yasutaka Baba soaring form (2022)

Entitled ‘soaring form’, Baba’s works are devoid of functionality, and instead, embrace a brave new vision of abstraction that call to mind the undulating forms of contemporary architecture, yet with reliefs that resemble that of civilizations past. Capturing both light and shadows upon their facades, Baba’s aesthetic is intriguing for both its sculptural beauty coupled with an immaculate sense of detail and craftsmanship, evidenced by the scrupulous intensity of the small building blocks of porcelain that comprise his works. After initially forming a porcelain base body from hand-building wet porcelain, Baba hand-cuts hundreds, if not thousands, of little rectangular porcelain blocks of varying sizes. Baba then attaches each piece, one by one, upon his damp clay surfaces in a random fashion. After drying, the work is fired in an electric kiln for 1240 degrees Celsius for 15 hours. In pursuit of the essence of porcelain’s natural beauty, Baba’s ‘soaring forms’ are mesmerising odes to the sheer power and imagination of Japanese porcelain for a new day and age.