URUSHI_ISM II. Contemporary Japanese Lacquer

The East – a theme of special interest for ESH Gallery – continues to be the focus explored through the works of a group of masters and young artists able to perform the ancient art of lacquer (Urushi in Japanese), renewed and declined in forms and ideas closed to a contemporary aesthetic vision.
The appreciation the Western world demonstrated toward this ancient art is undoubtedly linked to the concepts of simplicity, elegance and balanced beauty. Those elements joined to the mastering of the technique make lacquer works expression of a Japanese aesthetic and spirituality representations. In fact, it requires a balanced effort and a considerable patience to follow the procedures necessary to create a lacquer work: the application of dozens of layers of lacquer on the chosen shape, the drying process, the polishing phase, and the attention to the decoration.