Fair Trade - About the contemporary art industry and the ceramic industry: Yuji Ueda, Yoichi Umetsu

"I would like to begin by stating that this exhibition is not about arguing for a fair trade – that is, an exchange of equivalent value, because value is not always a rational concept in the art industry.

 

This exhibition was, however, organized with an eye to fulfilling a long-held desire to create an opportunity to reconsider the relationship between artists and galleries, as well as the typically invisible substructures within the worlds of art and ceramics. 

 

This exhibition is not limited to figurative and aesthetic pursuit, but also aims to detail the current state of art and ceramics as institutions or industries, presenting the artists’ works alongside interview videos. It additionally derives from the personal art festival “Art and the Ceramics Industry” that I held in Shigaraki last summer, and simultaneously fulfills the half-promise Yuji Ueda and I made to one day hold an exhibition together."

 

 

Yoichi Umetsu