Dear Takuro Kuwata, thoughts on your post:
Thanks for inviting a discussion about copycats.
For months I have researching to write a comment piece entitled Bingeing on Ceramic Pasta and Bubble Gum/Cake Icing Glazing, which is about out-of-control mimicking. I will be posting this soon.
When I first saw your tea bowls with their pustulating gold, silver, turquoise and red glazes miraculously oozing from the clay, I was stunned. I still am.
You are one of the most impressive new voices in 21st century ceramics.
Those who have followed me on Cfile, social media and attended my lectures, know that my passion for your work is boundless.
I hope you will forgive me opening this issue to a bigger audience but once it hit Instagram it became public domain anyway. Your texts are important and I have done some minor editing:
“Picasso said, ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal,’ so we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas” absolves people of plagiarism. I am starting to question whether this tendency should be condoned.
I would like to explain the background of my own work. I made this red bowl in the photograph in 2006. The cracked surface is an extended interpretation of the technique called “kairagi.” An example of this technique, Toyozo Arakawa’s work, is also shown here.
The inspiration came when I saw Arakawa’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu around that time and took interest in Shino glaze. I subsequently experimented with Shino glaze, and this was the first successful work I made in this style. For this red work, I mixed the glaze with a specific effect in mind, and it came out just as I had envisioned. Because I started out with this success, many mistakes and failures followed, and I had to go through quite a bit of trial and error thereafter.
I have experimented a lot not only in terms of chemical effects of the process but with the look, design, and concept of my work. Once you see the completed work, of course it’s easy to then imagine how it can be further improved, made more attractive, by tweaking this and that. But in the world of art, I had believed that originality and inventiveness were critical. So I really cannot wrap my head around how those who make imitative works are allowed to proudly show and sell their works at major galleries”.
To answer your question, there is little you can do, though, I will toss out a few hints later. My small part has been in calling out artists who do “Takuro Kuwata”. You know who you are!
You may have been unprepared for celebrity. Perhaps in Japan this does not happen, but in the West shameless copying is everywhere, yet it was never this bad.
And the more your star rises, the more you will be copied. It comes with the territory. The kind of international success you have received is rare in our field. It makes you a model for those wanting a major career and they are envious.
You can’t have fame without plagiarism––whether you are a musician, an architect or any other highly talented creative––the second rate are always trying to emulate the first rate.
That said, copyists may mimic your glazes, but they will never bring your spirit and vitality. That comes from your soul. That cannot be replicated.
Ceramics is obsessed with what we call “glaze porn”. They believe that technique rather than authenticity is the road to success, despite proof that it is not.
In the short term, so much imitation can muddy the waters. It can exhaust the market after a while making a aesthetic look common, ubiquitous. What can you do? Your work was created within a similar, repeated vocabulary for a decade now. I have noticed that with some Japanese ceramists, they create an aesthetic and remain with it for a lifetime. In the West, there is pressure for an artist to “grow” meaning that they migrate to new expression after some years. It can be artificial “growth” but that is the expectation.
So, my advice is, if you have been considering something new and different to your current work this may be a good time to, as one of those who responded to your post said, “move on” and leave the monkey-see-monkey-do artists in your glaze dust.
Imitation has a fascinating history in Japan and please excuse me If I get this wrong. Some enjoy their imitators. The radical, ornery Kitaoji Rosanjin encouraged it by teaching forgers how to make his work. And as he did not sign his pieces, this has caused chaos in his market after his death.
Shoji Hamada, who also did not sign his work, when asked how he felt about his imitators, said; “in the future the best of my imitators work will be considered mine and worst of my work will be considered theirs”.
And artists all copy to some degree, better if it is from older roots than living artists. William Blake wrote that to make “new” art, one must drive horse and cart over the bones of the dead”. The work of the past fuels the present.
Relax for three reasons: long term, you are at the top of the tree and those who mimic your work will never threaten your stature, just muddle it for a while; your dealers and collectors, both private and museum, are sophisticated, smart and will not buy second- and third-rate. Still a shift would be good.
Returning to those annoying copyists, they cement your significance. One of my greatest compliments was that in China and Korea several of my books were copied, translated into their languages without my permission. Despite lost royalties I was thrilled. It was a confirmation of their importance.
The same it true for you even if that might be poor compensation at the moment.
From a devoted fan.
Respectfully,
Garth
I agree with “those who mimic your work will never threaten your stature, just muddle it for a while; your dealers and collectors, both private and museum, are sophisticated, smart and will not buy second- and third-rate”.
I believe copies might look OK on Instagram but most people with sufficient ceramic/clay experience will see the difference.
I have just discovered my teacher copying my work and I know how devastating it is to spend years developing original forms and glazes just to have them ripped off for a copetition entry.
I think trademarks were invented for a reason. We need more education for artists and designers on designing a registering trademarks to protect ourselves. They do it in lots of other industries. You invested in the R&D at a loss to your income, so the intellectual property should be respected.
There are a lot of lazy people who don’t want to do the hard work that includes lots of failures to get to the birth of new concepts and style. Picasso was a vampire.
Garth
I honestly feel that you could not be further from a truth on any of your points – Shoji Hamada was a utilitarian Mingei potter, whose work was made to be used, same with Warren Mackenzie. It was about the pot, not who signed it. I believe your taken out of context comment on Shoji absolutely falsely summaries him…it’s actually the opposite of him (and yes I know people who studied under him and knew him well). “ producing those things you need and living simply with the earth” sums it up much better.
My feelings are the 40 plus years of “experience” doesn’t mean it really even matter after reading this.
The new artists who you are subtly mentioning have extremely different form factors, style and fun functions. It’s like saying any artist who paints with a thick abstract medium is copying the other – and all others should be discounted. These artists are creaking abstract art on ceramic – it’s a movement happening right now and is not exclusive to one person, nor should it be. Are there influences, surely…but it’s great to see clay getting this new love and attention in a brand new way.
Sorry Garth, but it doesn’t matter to me how many years or how many books you have written. There are a lot of great artists out there, take a step back and appreciate them for what they are. Put the 40 years and books behind you.
Good luck in to your new education, journey and enlightenment.
Dear Sir Clay Collector.
Is it OK if I call you Milord? Your name above was perhaps meant to be witty but humor does not seem to be your power skill. You claim to know “the truth”. Great, I do not have that certainly. What good writers and critics do is float firmly-held and informed opinions, which may or may not have value. Truth? That is a moving target. And your demand that I leave behind 40 years in the field and dump my books had a royal edict touch. I can almost hear the threat, “or I will exile you to glass.”
Learn how to structure an argument before you go live again. I honestly had no idea as to what point you were trying to make about Katuro. And remember, my piece was written after Katuro asked the field to weigh in on copyists.
Your belief that it is a “bad look” for an older man (me) to offer advice to a younger man, (Katuro), is bizarre. But then ageism makes no sense either.
Hamada and Leach played both sides of the streets. Leach insisted on selling his pots at very low prices in England citing this as one of his core values. Then in Japan, as a celebrity, sold them on exhibitions for ten to twenty times the UK prices.
Hamada did use his signature, maybe you did not know this? He signed boxes, the forever home for the pot, probably thousands of times. He signed like an artist. And he charged more for these. Definitely an artist. What was one buying, his signature?
So that is it. Life is too short for poor wine and I have taken my last sip. But keep writing. Write enough and you will become more cogent. We need all the voices we can get.
Bon Voyage, Garth
Ceramics has been plagued by copycat artist, in this age of me-ism.
It’s one of those mediums which is copyable. Better to find a less copyable style was always my thoughts. Still, better to be on top of the shard pile right?
Is it copying…I mean isn’t this how art movements happen? I have always considered them conversations. Think of Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Impressionism… art is a movement, ideas lead to other ideas (life is a movement, we are all learning from one another).
If someone claims to have ‘invented’ something isn’t it understood that those ideas that came before were necessary? Also, I wonder where the line can be drawn? Am I allowed to use clay? Am I allowed to use a vessel form, or glaze, or is it just not allowed to be colorful? Is Ron Nagle complaining because there is a movement within ceramics with his work at the epicenter? And wouldn’t Nagle probably claim that he was influenced and is influenced by other artists/culture?
I think its nonsense to compare such things with questions like: Am I allowed to use clay, am I allowed to use glaze or clay 😂. Its like diverting the attention from the core of the subject and acting as if you don’t know what the subject is about while it is clearly in your face.
And this defence tactic is often used by people who benefit out of such acts.
Its about blatantly copying exact style, language, colour, scale etc. Instead investing shit loads of time to find your own language and style.
The whole point is that if you see such works, and why I would call it copies is, you first think ‘Hey, its a Takuro, or a Nagle’. And then later you understand it is not but actually someone else and another someone else and another someone else. That is what is disturbing about it.
The issue might be that in olden pre-internet days you would study artists from art history books, and learn about composition, colour combination etc while being still a student.
But nowadays instagram is subject of study and see what works and who is gaining succes, and almost instantly when so and so artist posts something, the next day it is being made by another person and calling it their own.
Who is interested to see another Nagle or Takuro rise? They are already there, it does not make sense to me.
Jesus christ the ceramics community is in the stone-age. This whole thread, including the letter make Takuro sound even more pathetic.
Bone Thug, enlighten us.
“Its like diverting the attention from the core of the subject and acting as if you don’t know what the subject is about while it is clearly in your face.”
I am not sure how exactly it is diverting attention…I chose those blatant examples to show that the lines between borrowing/copying/inspiration are not easily defined.
Have you ever seen the Cubist work of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso? They were friends/contemporaries and their early Cubist work is nearly indistinguishable. Who is the copy-cat between them? Have you seen the cubist work that comes after? Is every cubist artist a fake and a copy-cat?
I don’t know, man, I think an old white dude telling an Asian dude to not worry about people co-opting his work is a pretty bad look.
This old white dude has experience of over 40 years working with artists, including worrying about copyists, not those who are influenced by, but outright copies. So an older (my preferred term) white man cannot speak to a younger Japanese artist who is asking or dialogue? This is a bizarre example of ageism and racism, served in a bowl of Soylent Green. A life’s knowledge is not a “look”. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Garth,
Thank you.
I value your advice to Takuro Kuwata and sort of read it as device to myself. It is very stressful and worrying when people copy what you do and exploit your hard earned technique. Ultimately, I agree that the soul of the work is impossible to imitate, and discerning eyes will invariably detect it.
Intellectual property feels precious … more than money, being recognized, appreciated and remembered is far more valuable to our egos. The Egos expressing their envy and disdain in this thread are simply doing what egos do. (And mine is doing just the same by entering this comment hah!)
Thanks again,
DZ
Regarding Rosanjin, he did indeed sign “his” pieces, for which he was the artistic director for technicians working to his orders (including, early on, Arakawa Toyozo).
Not to be that person, but what would you have said had it been Brian Rocheford or Nick Weddell whining like this? Probably something identical, defending their champion status/goopy ceramics market share.
TK’s glop is a really good gimmick, and now it has been around for over a decade, influencing thousands. It has driven ceramics towards the larger art fair circuit, as well as driven unskilled painters at Yale/Hunter MFA (generally) to use clay for Very Novel 1960s Voulkosian self expression. You have hypebeast trolls with 90k followers making memes about it. I’m not sure you get to complain about that once it gets that far from your reach.
I don’t understand why craftspeople/critics always seem to bend over backwards to reward the most myopic people. What, did his price point drop a couple grand and he had to stir the pot to recoup?
Joking with a friend about those posts, the next thing he should have done was release a publication with all of his original glaze recipes, as well as a clothing line. We all would have gotten over it immediately.
To Platinum Diamond.
you write: ‘ Not to be that person, but what would you have said had it been Brian Rocheford or Nick Weddell whining like this? ‘
Gaslighting
Since you raised both names in comparison….To me both are not even near TK to compare, he was the one to come up with something radical and new. TK is a true artist who digged his own inner core, did a lot for the scene and the history of ceramics. He should be given the credits instead of being bad mouthed by calling him myopic and whining. He had the guts to put himself in a vulnerable position by opening a subject many of us are struggling with, especially in this instagram age!
you write: ‘I don’t understand why craftspeople/critics always seem to bend over backwards to reward the most myopic people. What, did his price point drop a couple grand and he had to stir the pot to recoup? ‘
Really… you assume it would be all about money?
That would be so sad for art history, nothing new would arrive and we all would become business mans playing save repeating what is known to be sellable.
Takuro was totally whining. And his career is completely suffering from over creating. Nobody is buying his work anymore, same as Haas brothers. Thatsy why he wrote that pathetic post on his Ig. I am shocked his galleries haven’t dropped him since. Pathetic.
Bone Thug: You sound like a cliche jealous person.
As the wheel turns… http://cfileonline.wpengine.com/art-brian-rochefort-high-mass-goblets-glaze-worship/