Eiji Uematsu

Eiji Uematsu (b.1949) is a Japanese artist who is known for making earthenware ceramics and installations. Although he works in clay, Uematsu does not identify as a ceramicist. Instead, he considers his artistic practice to be a process where he playfully represents the spatial, environmental, and psychological affordances of clay. He states that “I think of myself as neither a ceramist nor an artist. Rather than expression, I feel more strongly that I want to deal with the clay. And, I hope to share what I see and feel from the clay with many people.”

Eiji's interest in clay piqued during his childhood while he engaged in explorations with mud play and the Japanese art form dorodango, a process he later expanded upon as he developed his distinct style of conceptual ceramics. ARTCOURT Gallery in Osaka, and t.gallery in Tokyo, Shibunkaku in Kyoto, and Tokyo Gendai.

Uematsu's solo exhibition titled Shape of Soil was on view at The Museum of Arts & Crafts Itami, Hyogo in 2007. In 2009, the Horiuchi Foundation sponsored a solo exhibition of Uematsu's work called Soil / Fire to the Root at the Koumi-Machi Kougen Museum of Art in Nagano. Kyoto City University of Arts Art Gallery presented Eiji Uematsu: The Sky that the Rabbits Saw in 2016. In 2020, a solo exhibition titled Soil and Fire was on view at The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo.

Uematsu's work has also been presented in art fairs such as FRIEZE in New York (2018), Art Fair Tokyo (2019), and the Art in Park Tokyo Hotel art fair in 2019.

Collections Uematsu's work is in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia).