Ogawa Machiko (b. 1946) | 91-S-II [Untitled]

Gallery Hashimoto, Tokyo

Ogawa Machiko is one Japan’s most celebrated contemporary ceramicists. Renowned for her experimental and inventive approach to clay, Ogawa’s work displays a lifetime fascination with geological forms, mineralogy and the different effects of extreme heat and pressure.

Born in 1946, Sapporo, the largest city of the Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan, Ogawa studied crafts at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music where she was a student of Fujimoto Yoshimichi (1919-1992), Kato Hajime (1900-1968) and Tamura Koichi (1918-1987).

Graduating in 1969, she then went on to study ceramics at l’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art in Paris until 1971, and then in Burkina Faso, West Africa until 1975 where she studied local ceramic techniques. Applying this to her understanding of Africa’s geological forms, Ogawa developed her own unique style creating objects that appear to have emerged from the earth as if hewn from its very depths.