Kunimasa Aoki is a Japanese artist active in contemporary sculpture and ceramics. His unique sculptural expressions using terracotta (clay) as a material are highly acclaimed both domestically and internationally.
Based on the “coil-building” technique found in Jomon pottery, his organic works that utilize distortions and cracks created by layering and compressing clay bring out the full potential of the material. Furthermore, he has been engaged in educational activities as a teacher in the Design Department at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and as a part-time lecturer at Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design, nurturing many future artists.
This article provides a detailed explanation of Kunimasa Aoki’s techniques, work analysis, and educational achievements.
Table of Contents
Who is Kunimasa Aoki? An Artist Active in Contemporary Ceramics and Sculpture
Kunimasa Aoki is an artist who pursues unique sculptural expressions using terracotta (clay) in the contemporary Japanese ceramics and sculpture world.
His works are highly acclaimed as organic sculptures that utilize the distortions and cracks created by layering and compressing clay, based on the “coil-building” technique found in Jomon pottery.
He has an extensive award history both domestically and internationally, including the Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Grand Prix in 2011, the Gold Prize at the 9th Japan Sculpture Competition in 2023, and the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Grand Prize in 2025.
Biography and Activity Overview: Learning at Musashino Art University and Educational Activities
Kunimasa Aoki was born in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture in 1963. After graduating from the Department of Sculpture at Musashino Art University, he completed the Master’s Program in Sculpture at the Graduate School of Art and Design of the same university (1989).
Subsequently, he was involved in education as a teacher in the Design Department at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and also served as a part-time lecturer at Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design.
As an artist, he creates sculptural works using terracotta (clay) as material, based on the “coil-building” technique found in Jomon pottery. He has established a creative approach that intentionally incorporates the distortions and cracks created by layering and compressing clay, deriving organic forms through dialogue with the material.
His unique expressions in contemporary ceramics and sculpture have been highly acclaimed through awards both domestically and internationally, including the Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Grand Prix in 2011, the Gold Prize at the 9th Japan Sculpture Competition in 2023, and the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Grand Prize in 2025.
His Position in Terracotta Sculpture and Characteristics of Expression
Aoki’s creative approach is characterized by his view of clay not merely as a material but as a “medium that harbors time and memory.” While based on the “coil-building” technique found in Jomon pottery, he intentionally incorporates the distortions and cracks created by layering and compressing clay, fusing the reinterpretation of classical techniques with contemporary sculptural thinking.
His body of work goes beyond formal beauty, incorporating the contraction from firing and changes in surface texture as “material memory,” visualizing the relationship between matter and time. Aoki’s approach is acclaimed as a unique expression in contemporary ceramics and sculpture, pursuing the possibilities of terracotta as a material.
In 2025, he received the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Grand Prize, earning high acclaim internationally.
Recognition Through Awards and Exhibition History and Professional Achievements
Kunimasa Aoki is recognized as an artist in the contemporary ceramics and sculpture world. His major awards include the Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Grand Prix in 2011, the Gold Prize at the 9th Japan Sculpture Competition in 2023, and the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Grand Prize in 2025.
His works are characterized by organic sculptures that utilize the distortions and cracks created by layering and compressing clay, based on the “coil-building” technique found in Jomon pottery. His works are collected by the Museum of Ceramic Art Hyogo, Japan Art Hall, Kawaguchi City Art Museum, and the LOEWE Foundation.
He has also been engaged in educational activities as a teacher in the Design Department at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and as a part-time lecturer at Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design.
Structure of the Artistic World and Sculptural Philosophy
Kunimasa Aoki’s works are characterized by visualizing the balance between the plasticity and fragility inherent in the material of terracotta (clay) through organic composition. Layering, compressing, and firing clay—through these primordial acts, he incorporates the distortions and cracks that occur within the material as part of the sculpture. This is the foundation of Aoki’s sculptural philosophy.
His works possess structural presence while simultaneously embodying organic vitality, giving the impression as if the clay itself is breathing. While based on the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery, they possess the sculptural qualities of contemporary abstract sculpture, permeated with a sculptural philosophy that unifies material memory and formal necessity.
Foundation of Sculptural Beauty: Organic Expression Through Layering and Compression
Aoki’s sculptural language is established through the composition born from the process of layering clay. Applying the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery, he intentionally preserves the distortions and cracks created during the process of layering and compressing clay, incorporating them as “traces of time and force” into the internal structure of the work, creating a space where tension and organicity coexist.
Many of his works, while eliminating extreme decoration, contain subtle changes in surface texture within thickness and volume, representing an existence that could be called “organic sculpture” that fuses compositional beauty with material characteristics. Furthermore, the structure created by layering guides the viewer’s gaze, constructing a unique sculptural beauty in the space between balance and disruption.
This structural sculptural consciousness is acclaimed as a unique expression pursuing the possibilities of terracotta as a material.
Insight into Materials: Characteristics of Terracotta and Expression Manipulation
In Aoki’s creative process, dialogue with materials is not merely a technical process but an essential element involved in the conceptual formation of the work itself. He understands the physical and chemical properties that terracotta (clay) possesses—plasticity, contraction from firing, and changes in surface texture—and transforms them into sculptural intentions.
He perceives the layering and compression of clay created through the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery as “organic growth,” actively incorporating the contraction from firing and the distortions and cracks that occur on the surface to achieve expression manipulation that visualizes time. Additionally, by varying the sculpture according to the thickness of clay layers and the intensity of compression, he creates works with different expressions even with the same technique.
For Aoki, material is not a subordinate but the very subject that guides form, and the essence lies in his approach of “nurturing” works while dialoguing with clay.
Form and Expression: Sculptural Philosophy as Abstract Sculpture
Aoki’s works are permeated with a philosophy that unifies material characteristics and sculptural expression. In his terracotta sculptural works, the organic contours created by layering clay integrate with changes in surface texture, developing sculptures that allow one to sense the material’s existence from both visual and tactile perspectives.
In his works, smooth form processing that utilizes clay’s plasticity fuses the material’s flexibility with post-firing solidity. In abstract sculptural works, he emphasizes relationships with space, expanding into sculptures that expand the viewer’s senses through composition that includes surface texture changes depending on light direction, variations in shadow density, and the surrounding atmosphere.
For Aoki, form is something born from dialogue with materials, and the sculptural thinking that elevates from Jomon pottery techniques to contemporary abstract expression forms the foundation of his works.
Technical Analysis and Creative Process
Furthermore, by positioning the contraction from firing and the distortions and cracks that occur on the surface not as mere accidents but as “part of the structure,” the technique itself becomes a pillar supporting sculptural philosophy. In the creative process, he emphasizes dialogue with materials and is characterized by consistently performing organic sculpture through the layering and compression of clay.
Aoki’s techniques should be understood not as mere technical methods but as the practice of sculptural aesthetics that utilizes material characteristics.
System of Clay Forming Techniques: Integration of Layering, Compression, and Firing
Aoki’s terracotta works are born from techniques that manipulate the internal structure of the material by layering and compressing clay. Based on the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery, in the process of gradually layering clay to derive organic forms, managing the intensity of compression and contraction from drying and firing is extremely important.
Excessive compression or rapid drying causes cracks, while insufficient compression weakens the structure, requiring skilled sensory judgment to balance the clay’s condition and pressure. Additionally, during firing, by controlling temperature, he achieves technical precision that maintains overall structural strength while completing the work by controlling contraction and surface texture changes.
The thickness of layering, intensity of compression, and firing temperature are designed as an integrated whole, and these continuous processes create the final form’s organicity. Aoki’s clay forming techniques are truly a sculptural method systematized as “the sense of dialoguing with materials.”
Exploration of Surface Expression: Utilizing Texture Changes and Distortions and Cracks from Firing
Surface expression in Aoki’s works is not decoration but the material characteristics themselves, representing a sculptural act that visualizes the memory of time and force. During firing, he creates changes in clay surface texture through temperature control and cooling processes, producing unique expressions where layers of clay overlap.
Furthermore, he intentionally incorporates the distortions and cracks created by the layering and compression of clay, visualizing the material’s organicity. Through contraction from firing and surface texture changes, he achieves coexistence of visual depth and material presence.
Additionally, by intentionally leaving traces of layering, he records the rhythm of the creative process and the artist’s physicality. All these methods embody Aoki’s sculptural philosophy of “surface = layers of time,” establishing a unique expression born from the fusion of technique and philosophy.
Dialogue with Materials in the Creative Process
In Aoki’s creation, an approach is maintained that deeply understands material characteristics and advances sculpture while observing its reactions. While based on the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery, he has established a creative method that predicts the distortions and cracks that occur during the process of layering and compressing clay and incorporates them as part of the sculpture.
In the creative process, he derives organic forms while sensually discerning the clay’s condition, compression intensity, and contraction from drying and firing. These techniques are based on material understanding cultivated through years of experience and are acclaimed as practices that maximize the possibilities of clay as a material.
Aoki’s creative method is an approach that “nurtures” forms through dialogue with materials and is an essential element that elevates traditional techniques to contemporary abstract sculptural expression.
Material Research and Understanding of Clay Characteristics
Throughout Kunimasa Aoki’s creative philosophy, an approach of deeply engaging with materials as an artist consistently exists. In particular, by understanding clay’s plasticity and changes from firing and applying them to sculptural acts, he has built a unique expressive system that utilizes terracotta’s material characteristics.
He perceives clay forming as “sculpture where time and force are engraved” and derives forms organically while observing material changes. This creative approach is a practice that develops from the traditional techniques of Jomon pottery to contemporary abstract expression, constructing clay forming techniques of layering, compression, and firing from both sensibility and material understanding. Aoki’s works are existences that could be called “the organic vitality of clay” brought about by dialogue with materials.
Control of Drying, Firing, and Surface Changes Based on Understanding Clay Characteristics
Aoki has established methods that utilize contraction and surface changes from drying and firing in sculpture based on understanding clay characteristics. In terracotta, the internal structure is formed through layering and compression, and contraction, distortions, and cracks occur during the drying and firing processes, which Aoki intentionally incorporates as part of the sculpture.
Aoki perceives these material changes as part of sculptural design, utilizing clay’s reactions as “records of time and force.” Furthermore, in surface expression, he treats texture changes from firing not as mere results but as “material memory,” incorporating the texture and color tone of clay surfaces into sculpture through temperature control.
This approach to clay forming that fuses material understanding and sensibility elevates the traditional techniques of Jomon pottery to contemporary abstract sculptural expression.
Pursuit of Structural Integrity in Clay Forming
In terracotta sculpture, structural integrity is an important element that affects the completeness of the work. Aoki has established techniques that unify the whole while enhancing the adhesion between layers in the process of layering and compressing clay.
By adjusting the clay’s condition and compression intensity during forming and anticipating distortions and cracks from contraction during drying and firing, he maintains structural stability while incorporating them as part of the sculpture. He also observes contraction from firing and surface texture changes, actively utilizing material changes as “records of time.”
This achieves coexistence of organic surface expression and structural presence. The approach that fuses material understanding and sculptural sensibility elevates Aoki’s terracotta sculpture to a unique expressive realm.
Material Characteristics of Terracotta and Expression Changes Over Time
“Changes over time” in ceramic works also indicate the material’s sustained existence. Aoki has established methods that understand the stability of fired terracotta and utilize their textures in sculpture.
After firing, works may experience slight changes in surface texture and color tone depending on environmental conditions, but Aoki characteristically perceives terracotta surfaces as “layers that record time” and incorporates the expressions fixed by firing into the work’s essence in design.
Such practices based on material understanding pursue the possibilities of clay as a material. Aoki’s works demonstrate that they are “organic existences” where material characteristics and creative processes are unified.
Sculptural Theory and Spatial Composition Thinking
Surface texture changes and variations in shadow density interact with the environment through material characteristics, bringing organic presence to the space where the work is placed. Aoki’s sculptural thinking fuses the boundaries between ceramics and sculpture and is characterized by addressing the sculptural proposition of “the relationship between materials and form” through clay’s material properties.
Organic Form and Structural Presence—Analysis of Relationships with Space
Aoki’s sculptures, while possessing structural presence at first glance, contain organic fluidity within. By contrasting the structure created by layering clay with the distortions and cracks created by compression, he introduces vital rhythm within compositional order.
This ambiguity of “construction and organicity” is the core of his sculptural expression. Works are designed to show presence through relationships with the environment rather than as independent bodies separated from surrounding space. In exhibition spaces, considering work placement and distance from viewers, he achieves coexistence of visual presence and organic expression.
The harmony of structural certainty and organic expression develops Aoki’s works into unique abstract expressions within the framework of terracotta sculpture.
Expression of Light Through Terracotta Surface Texture and Shadow
In Aoki’s works, light is not merely a lighting effect but a sculptural element itself. By intentionally leaving the fine texture of clay surfaces and traces of layering, works show multi-layered expressions depending on the viewing angle and illumination.
On fired terracotta surfaces, texture changes and shadow variations appear depending on the angle of light, giving different impressions depending on the viewer’s observation position. Furthermore, the shadows created by distortions and cracks from layering and compressing clay express the material’s organicity and records of time.
Through this “relationship between light and texture,” Aoki visualizes the organic vitality inherent in clay as a material, constructing sculptural space that can be perceived from both visual and tactile perspectives.
Work Presence and Viewing Experience in Exhibition Spaces
Kunimasa Aoki’s works are characterized by sculptural expressions that consider relationships with exhibition environments. Exhibition platform placement, lighting methods, distance from viewers—these are consciously recognized as elements affecting work impressions.
Particularly, terracotta surface textures show shadow variations depending on exhibition space lighting conditions, displaying different expressions depending on viewer position and angle. The shadows created by traces of clay layering and distortions and cracks from compression produce organic expressions depending on how light hits them.
Works are presented as “sculptures that show presence within space.” The approach that utilizes the relationship between light and texture as sculptural elements can be said to be an important characteristic of Kunimasa Aoki’s sculptural expression.
Contributions to Education and Nurturing Future Generations
Kunimasa Aoki, in parallel with his artistic activities in contemporary ceramics and sculpture, has also devoted himself to nurturing future generations as an educator over many years. Through his experience as a teacher in the Design Department at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and his instruction as a part-time lecturer at Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design, he established an educational system that comprehensively teaches understanding clay characteristics and theories of sculptural expression.
Aoki placed “thinking with hands and dialoguing with materials” at the center of his educational philosophy, practicing instruction that respects each student’s creative thinking. Additionally, through an approach that organically links education, research, and creation, he has greatly contributed to establishing educational environments that support the foundation of contemporary ceramics and sculpture expression both academically and institutionally.
Educational Philosophy at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and Joshibi University
Kunimasa Aoki’s educational philosophy is characterized by emphasizing “thinking with hands and dialoguing with materials.” In the Design Department at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School, he established a curriculum for systematically learning clay characteristics understanding and sculptural expression, achieving balance between fundamental techniques and expressive thinking.
Furthermore, as a part-time lecturer
at Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design, he linked theoretical lectures (sculptural theory, aesthetics, design history) with practical exercises, providing an environment where students could move back and forth between thinking and creation. Through collaborative productions and presentation opportunities at exhibitions inside and outside the school, he also devoted effort to nurturing team production processes and presentation skills.
Systematization of Research Materials and Archiving of Production Records
As an educator, Aoki conducted instruction emphasizing students’ creative processes, encouraging experimental production that integrates material understanding and sculptural theory for master’s and doctoral theses and production reports. This has produced numerous academic papers on clay forming techniques.
Aoki himself has made presentations on the sculptural significance of texture changes from terracotta drying and firing and traces of layering, contributing to building the academic foundation of contemporary ceramics and sculpture. Additionally, he continues efforts to organize and preserve historical student production sketches, layering diagrams, and test pieces, archiving them as educational and research materials.
Through these activities, he has established technique inheritance as a recording culture, establishing the academic value of ceramics and sculpture that exceeds the framework of practical education.
Inheritance to Next-Generation Ceramic Sculptors and International Activities
Aoki also works on building educational and research networks for terracotta sculpture through collaborations with art universities and art centers domestically and internationally.
After receiving the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, he was invited to public productions and talk events in Spain, Taiwan, and elsewhere, providing opportunities for students and young artists to experience clay material understanding and sculptural expressions from different cultural spheres.
Such international practices have also become venues for examining the contemporary possibilities of the “coil-building” technique based on Jomon pottery from diverse perspectives. Furthermore, many graduates are active at universities and galleries domestically and internationally, and Aoki’s sculptural philosophy of dialoguing with materials continues to be inherited by the next generation.
Summary
Kunimasa Aoki is a rare artist who has integrated the plasticity and traces of time that clay as a material possesses, elevating the “coil-building” technique of Jomon pottery to contemporary sculpture. Traversing the three realms of creation, education, and research, by theorizing the sculptural thinking of “thinking with hands and dialoguing with materials,” he has fused both technique and expression at a higher dimension.
His works are philosophical expressions that visualize distortions and cracks created by layering and compression as “records of time” and emit organic vitality through interactions with light, texture, and space. Through award history both domestically and internationally (Kobe Biennale Contemporary Ceramics Grand Prix, LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Grand Prize, etc.) and exhibition participation, he has established international acclaim for contemporary ceramics and sculpture.
As an educator, he has practiced an “educational model integrating material understanding and sculptural theory” at Saitama Prefectural Niiza Sogo Technical High School and Joshibi Junior College of Art and Design, nurturing many future generations. Furthermore, through international exchanges and workshops, he promotes inheritance to next-generation ceramic sculptors, deepening dialogue between materials and culture.
