M A T E R I A L C U L T U R E
In a B o x
C u ltu r e
S T O R Y BY
Janet Koplos
Yamamura Shinya (in the Japanese style,
his family name appears first) learned lac-
quer work in art school. He did not come
to this age-old medium through family in-
heritance or an apprenticeship. When he
was in high school, he saw a black box with
a bird drawn in a white line; he says he “fell
in love” then, but only later learned that
it was a lacquer surface inlaid with eggshell.
He studied at the Kanazawa College of
Art, in a district of Japan famed for lacquer.
There was only one other student special-
izing in the medium, yet there were three
instructors—esteemed local craftsmen—
teaching the traditional techniques.
Japan has a long history of such work
(the European term for lacquered furniture
was “japanned”). It is correctly called
urushi
, for the Asian shrub whose sap yields
a substance that functions both as a glue,
holding gold flakes, mother-of-pearl or egg-
shell to a wood base, and as a tough finish
that, after it cures in a humid atmosphere,
is impervious to alcohol and solvents.
Yamamura first tried working at a rela-
tively large scale. In that effort, he may
have been inspired by works in various
mediums that he saw in American Craft
magazine; the periodical was very important
to him when he studied in Kanazawa, which
is located on the Japan Sea coast, a region
sometimes called the “back” of Japan,
which may have seemed isolated especially
because he was a Tokyo native. His early
work consisted of abstract sculptural forms.
The exquisite finish of lacquer could give
coherence and impact to the shapes.
About five years ago, Yamamura began
making boxes when he was invited to
participate in an exhibition on the theme
of the tea ceremony. It was boxes that
he displayed in his first American show,
at Ippodo Gallery in New York’s Chelsea,
last November. Maybe the shift was inevi-
table, for in an interview at the gallery
he called Japan “a box culture” (documents
and objects are stored in wooden boxes).
As if to illustrate, the deep sill of a gallery
window held five elegant boxes each
tied with a woven cord, the type that hold
Left:
F r u it o f th e M o o n
, 2009,
incense container
(closed and open),
abalone, gold powder,
silver powder, 19/io x
34/fcx 2 in.
026 american craft apr/mayio
Phocos courtesy of Ippodo Gallery.
