Her great-grandfather, born into a prestigious samurai family, discovered ceramics at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris. This led to the creation of a dynasty of artisans, of which she is a worthy heir, as reflected in her glass and naphthalene sculptures exhibited at the Le Clézio Gallery.
In Kyoto, as in the rest of the world, the lockdown period will remain a suspended moment in time, one that redirected many lives. For Aiko Miyanaga, it was a revelation. Confined in the monastic atmosphere of her family’s workshop in the Fushimi district, this Japanese ceramic artist eventually opened, one by one, the apple crates stored high up—crates no one had dared to touch for over a century. Inside, she discovered a strange series of plaster molds from the Sèvres porcelain factory. "Sleeping tiger, tail," "cat, without ears"—the French inscriptions were difficult for her to decipher, yet they shed new light on the history of her great-grandfather. "Like a mountain of treasures allowing me to meet the past," she says in her delicate Japanese.
In 1900, Tozan Miyanaga, born into a distinguished family, was sent to the Paris Universal Exhibition to oversee the Japanese pavilion. There, he discovered the work of his compatriot Numata Ichiga, who had studied and worked at the Sèvres porcelain factory. The fusion of Japanese aesthetics with French techniques acted as a revelation for Tozan Miyanaga, to the point that he decided to become a ceramicist. He would later become a supplier to the imperial family and establish a true dynasty of artists, of which Aiko represents the fourth generation. In Japan, she is known for her naphthalene sculptures, created using a technique kept secret. All that is known is that this petroleum derivative liquefies at 80.4 degrees Celsius. "The idea came to me while storing winter clothes—I noticed that the naphthalene sachets were empty. The material hadn’t disappeared but had evaporated. When you think about it, all sculptures evolve over time," she explains. Displayed in hermetically sealed glass boxes, her works slowly decompose, producing crystal formations that resemble snowflakes. Nothing is controlled except for the poetry that emerges from the reproduction of an old alarm clock or a pair of worn-out shoes—a metaphor for the passage of time.
Unearthing the incomplete molds preserved by her ancestor has inspired Aiko to create a new series of works: glass fragments of animals, made using the molds she found in the apple crates. "I see it as the meeting of three temporalities: that of the century-old form, that of the air trapped in the bubbles that form when the glass is poured, and that of the date I inscribe inside each piece," she explains from the Le Clézio Gallery, where her work is being presented to Parisians. "Our ambition is to introduce the public to profound artists, little or not yet exhibited in France," says Antoine Le Clézio, who runs this new space with his wife, Yan, in the 8th arrondissement. This quest for memory and light bodes well for the future.
PRACTICAL INFORMATIONS
Aiko Miyanaga
Le Clézio Gallery
157 Rue du Faubourg St Honoré
75008 Paris
Until April 6 2025
https://www.lecleziogallery.com/en/
