FLASK (TOKKURI), C. 2000, YOSHIKAWA MASAMICHI, B. 1946, JAPAN, TOKONAME PORCELAIN, UNDERGLAZE BLUE DECORATION, 17.0 CM (H). COLLECTION OF RICHARD MCMAHON. IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ART GALLERY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA – TAASA Review June 2014

Yoshikawa described the breadth of his own practice, including his signature use of underglaze blue porcelain wares, for work as diverse as a very large tile wall mural/ sculpture installation in Nagoya Airport, and an enigmatic sake bottle now at the Art Gallery of South Australia. dialogue in the darkened lecture room.

His account of the influences on his own creative process was accompanied by a range of music including the sound track from the seventies film Easy Rider, accompanied by photos of himself and friends on motor bikes, acting pretty wild themselves, back then in those days. I think that no workshop participant will ever forget Yoshikawa’s emotive description of how he created the ceramic installation and mural commissioned by the new Nagoya Airport.

After describing the difficulties of deadlines, works exploding in the kiln, and then kilns being shaved internally to fit several large ceramic globes, Yoshikawa told us about the day he flew through the airport himself to return to Japan, some months after the completion and opening of the installation. Yoshikawa showed us some photographs of the ceramic globes in the foreground of the ceramic wall mural, and we could see the scale of the composition when viewed in relation to the children clambering on top of these sculptural works...