Axel Vervoordt Gallery is pleased to participate in the 2025 edition of TEFAF New York (May 9–14, preview: May 8) at the Park Avenue Armory. Our presentation brings together the work of Shiro Tsujimura and Yuko Nasaka, two pioneering Japanese artists whose practices reflect a radical engagement with material and form. Shiro Tsujimura's wood-fired ceramics—rooted in Zen philosophy—are shaped by clay, fire, and time. Entirely self-taught, his tactile works resist categorisation and embody a raw, intuitive sculptural language. In dialogue, we present a selection of rarely seen paintings by Yuko Nasaka, a key member of the Gutai Art Association. Her rhythmic, machine-assisted reliefs combine industrial process with meditative repetition. Though distinct in medium, both artists challenge convention through innovation and independence, offering new perspectives on Japanese postwar and contemporary art.

ABOUT ARTISTS : Shiro Tsujimura,Yuko Nasaka

---

Shiro Tsujimura is one of the most prominent contemporary ceramic artists of our time and is considered as a living legend in Japan. His practice defies conventional modes of expression in his genre. He’s entirely self-taught and although his creations rely on historic techniques found in traditional Japanese and Korean styles, his independent streak defines his practice with a sense of freedom, playfulness, and self-confidence above all else. All of his creations are pure and spiritual, where the passing of time and the art of imperfection play an important role. Yuko Nasaka was one of the few female members of the Gutai Art Association. She joined in 1963 and became a key member of the group’s second-generation activities. Nasaka’s work from this period is inventive, experimental, and highly original. She displays a masterful use of technology and cutting-edge industrial materials — two hallmarks of Gutai — through her use of brightly hued car lacquer. Her large, grid-like relief works are a modular series of square wooden panels, which she coated with a thin layer of glue, plaster and clay, and then placed individually on a homemade mechanical turntable. As the panel rotated, she used a palette knife to carve patterns into the material, a gesture she compared to working on a potter's wheel.

Milano Straps

mpefm ITALY

mpefm SPAIN

mpefm WORLD