黒田泰蔵／Kuroda Taizo

黒田泰蔵は、初期の活動のほとんどをカナダで過ごした異色の経歴を持つ陶芸家です。彼の代表作である白磁は、造形の美しさとともに作者の深遠な思想をも内包し、唯一無二の世界観を静かに展開しています。

黒田は1946年、疎開先の滋賀県能登川町（現在の東近江市）で生まれました。大阪の工芸高校に進学後、1966年にパリへ渡ると、人間国宝の島岡達三と運命的な出会いを果たします。島岡の知遇を得た黒田は、翌年カナダに移り住み、陶芸家ゲータン・ボーダンのもとで陶芸を学びました。それから1980年までカナダを拠点にしつつ、その間に二度帰国した際は、益子の島岡に教えを請いました。軸足を日本に戻した1980年前半は、彩色を施した器によって注目され、渋谷パルコに「ショップTAIZO」をオープンします。商業的には成功を収めるものの、黒田がその量産体制に疲弊したため、店舗は1987年に閉鎖されます。一時は創作の方向性を見失いかけた黒田ですが、その苦悩の中で、自分が本当に作りたかったものは白磁であったと確信し、1992年以降、生涯をかけて白磁の作品を作り続けることになります。この白磁への傾倒は、かつて濱田庄司に見せてもらった李朝の白磁に由来しています。

黒田の白磁は、その薄い輪郭線が緊張感をもたらしつつも、表面には柔らかなろくろ目と美しい磨き跡を帯びています。鑑賞者はそこに、黒田が希求した言葉にならない言葉、本来は見えるものでも作るものでもない世界、その抽象的な美のありようを感じ取ることでしょう。

Taizo Kuroda is a ceramic artist with a unique background, spending much of his early career in Canada. His representative works in white porcelain not only exhibit the beauty of form but also encapsulate the profound thoughts of the artist, quietly unfolding a unique worldview.

Born in 1946 in Notogawa Town (now Higashi-omi City), Shiga Prefecture, where he was evacuated during the war. After attending a craft high school in Osaka, he traveled to Paris in 1966, where he had a fateful encounter with Living National Treasure Tatsuzo Shimaoka. Inspired by Shimaoka’s recognition, Kuroda moved to Canada the following year and undertook an apprenticeship in ceramics under the ceramist Gaétan Beaudin. While based in Canada until 1980, he returned to Japan twice during that period to seek instruction from Shimaoka in Mashiko Town. In the early 1980s, when he shifted his focus back to Japan, his colored pottery gained attention, and he opened “Shop TAIZO” in Shibuya Parco. Although commercially successful, Kuroda became exhausted by the mass production system, leading to the closure of the store in 1987. Despite momentarily losing sight of his creative direction, Kuroda became convinced that white porcelain was what he truly wanted to create during his struggles. Since 1992, he was dedicated his life to producing white porcelain works. His fascination with white porcelain stems from the Joseon white porcelain pieces, a form of traditional ceramic ware from Korea, which were shown to him by Shoji Hamada, a Japanese ceramic artist.

Kuroda’s white porcelain pieces possess thin outlines that create tension, while their surfaces bear the soft texture of the potter’s wheel and beautiful polishing marks. Viewer can perceive within them the abstract beauty that Kuroda sought, which defies verbal description and represents a world that is neither visible nor created by ordinary means.