Seki has long worked in a way that follows the materials, creating carved forms shaped by hollowing out wood, as well as lacquered works that bring out the expressions of lacquer.
This exhibition brings together these works with a newer group of pieces using eggshell inlay, a technique he has been exploring in recent years. The shells are finely broken and layered onto the surface, producing a distinctive texture and expressions of white. Eggshell is also one of the techniques historically used at a time when the means of expressing white in lacquer were limited. Here, the works are composed using the traces of chance that arise when the shells are broken as a point of departure, giving rise to a different kind of appeal from his earlier work.
Bringing together both his long-standing practice and these more recent explorations, the exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter both aspects of his work.
PROFILE
Kenichi Seki is a wood and lacquer craft artist born in Osaka in 1982. He first encountered craft at university through his mentor’s work in Joseon-dynasty Korean woodworking, an experience that shaped his artistic path. After graduation, he apprenticed with woodcraft artist Kazumasa Fujisaki and, from 2012, with lacquer artist Akito Akagi. He established his independent practice in 2019 and held his first solo exhibition at HIN / Arts & Science, Nijodori Kyoto, in 2020. In 2024, he relocated from Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, to Keihoku, Kyoto, where he continues to personally oversee every stage of production, from shaping the wooden base to applying the final lacquer finish.
