He changes the function, condition, and definition of the material itself into something new by his work and presents it as a completely different object right before our eyes. He strips all the meaning from the material, and simultaneously produces an independent work in its true meaning by completing it with only the physical function of the material, without relying on narrative, image, or forms.

Tomii has been seeking a new possibility for sculpture, not sticking to material, moving away from the conventional image of “sculpture” in its long history. His attitude is revealed in his daily “Kyo-no-Chokoku [Today’s Sculpture]” series on Twitter as well as in his works used printed materials. When he presented the images which had been featured on Twitter for his solo exhibition last year, he decided that he would show his work’s focus in a different manner from what it used to be. Then, he chose clay as the complementary material to use for his work.

Tomii was in the sculpture department at university and majored in clay figures. He confronted the clay every day, which is what attached him to that material. However, gradually, he questioned the act of sculpting and experienced a sense of failure. Tomii says that he kept a distance from clay after that in his work. More than a decade passed. Then he confronted clay as material once again, inevitably and fatefully at the above-mentioned exhibition last year. Composition for Clay is a collection of works produced in the middle of Tomii’s continuation of the various trials and experiments of his concept of sculpture.

Tomii pursuits what “clay for clay” should be by the way of creating a work. And while continuing the work, he questions himself about the reason that he does it.

The exhibition will present Tomii’s clay works as well as prints in collaboration with Edition Works for the first time.