Masayoshi Oya

During his studies in Japan in the early 2000s, Oya had difficulty finding an artistic identity of his own. The training was based on a long ceramic tradition and aimed to achieve the highest possible technical proficiency in the various stages of the craft. Oya left the multicultural city of Tokyo, and after studying at a ceramic school in Seto, he moved in 2007 to the village of Vickleby on Öland to study at Capellagården. Here Oya encountered a new approach to both education and individual expression, and highly valued studying under Kennet Williamsson. After Capellagården, Oya went straight on to a master's degree at HDK in Gothenburg, a city he has remained faithful to and where he currently runs Studio Oyama.

Since moving to Sweden, Oya has developed a distinctive but ever-changing expression at the intersection of two cultures — the Japanese and the Swedish. His well-known and sought-after ceramic production includes both utility and art ware, and today has reached an international audience. Traditional Japanese arts and crafts are a great source of inspiration for Oya, but he is also influenced by environments, encounters and experiences in his new home country of Sweden — impressions that shape both his ideas and himself as an artist. Here he has developed a striking painterly pattern world with an exuberant color range, far from the earthy tones that dominate Japanese farm goods.

“Pottery has incredible possibilities. With it, I can create different emotions, surfaces and objects — from practical things to art. I make simple shapes that I combine with the random behavior of the glaze. It's like painting on canvas.”

Masayoshi Oya (b. Tokyo 1979) lives and works in Gothenburg where he runs Studio Oyama. He holds a master of arts and crafts from HDK and has also studied ceramics at Cappellagården and Aichi Prefectural Seto Yogyo School, Aichi, Japan. He has exhibited at Gothenburg Museum of Art, Design Museum in Helsinki, Wanås Konst, Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo, Röhsska Museum and Kunstmuseet in Tønder. In 2019 he received the Sten A Olsson Cultural Scholarship and in 2022 Ulrika Hydman Valliens Foundation Scholarship.

For the exhibition, a catalogue with a conversation between Masayoshi Oya and the potter Ingegerd Råman, moderated and authored by cultural journalist Gunnar Bolin, is published. The catalogue is designed by Stefan Engblom with pictures by Patrik Lindell. The stage design of the exhibition is created by TAF Studio.

Thanks to: Estrid Ericson's Foundation, Tore G. Wärenstam Foundation, Swedish Arts Council, Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality and Vandalorum's partners: Hamrin, Liljedahl, Svenstig 

^{Photos: Daniel Grizelj}