June 26 through September 5, 2010

Jun Kaneko’s work is featured in more than 40 museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Mainly identified as a sculptor, his work is also internationally recognized for its innovative and technical achievement in glass, textiles, bronze, paper, and canvas. Kaneko was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1942. He came to the United States in 1963 to continue his painting studies, and was drawn to sculptural ceramics when introduced to works of contemporary California artists.

Noted for his dangos—large moundlike freestanding rounded forms—Kaneko incorporates shapes and colors which spiritually draw people in to an inner sense of peace. He has repeatedly pushed the size limits of his sculptures, some of which weigh 1,000 pounds and stand 13 feet in height. Some dangos take a year to dry before they can be bisque fired and up to three years to complete.

Scott Schweigert, Curator of Art and Civilization, said the Museum will be exhibiting approximately 12 dangos, 12 drawings, six small sculptures, six wall slabs and various paintings for a total of 39 works from the Kaneko Studio. Among the sculptures is a large blue head weighing 900 pounds and mounted to a 1200 pound steel table. The traveling exhibit is part of a ten-city nationwide tour over a two-and-a-half-year period.

“Contemporary sculpture is a relatively new territory for us. Kaneko blurs the lines between ceramics and sculptures—he has embraced multi-media. This exhibit shows the dimensions and many aspects of his work, “ Schweigert remarked.

Schwiegert added that the exhibit links to the Museum’s permanent collections in interesting ways. The Museum’s collections include Ancient Greek amphoras (ceramic vessels used for liquids), Pre-Columbian vessels and jugs in the shape of animals, and early Asian ceramics used in Japan, China, and Korea. In direct contrast are the non-functional closed forms of Kaneko’s ceramics.

Scott Schweigert, the Museum's Curator of Art and Civilization, talks about the exhibition on Comcast Newsmakers.
Click here to watch (YouTube)

Scott Schweigert talks to Ron Schira about the exhibition on BCTV's New Arts Live show (8/4/10).
Click here to watch (link to BCTV archives)

Click here to watch the Museum's 30-second TV spot for this exhibition (YouTube).

This exhibition is underwritten by the Marlin and Ginger Miller Exhibition Fund. It was curated by Jun Kaneko, and was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri. The Reading Public Museum is supported in part by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Images – Left: Untitled, Head, 1995, glazed ceramics, Courtesy of Kaneko Collection 2007, Photo credit: Dirk Bakker; Right, top: Jun Kaneko, Photo credit: Susan Schonlau; Bottom: Untitled,Dango, 2005, glazed ceramics, Photo credit: Dirk Bakker