A studio in a shipping container surrounded by mountains, a rice field at the back door, croaking frogs and Mt.Fuji nearby, set the scene for the individual works of Oyama Yasuyuki.
Oyama works primarily with aluminium, creating uniquely coloured and textured surfaces by using urushi, Japanese lacquer, in conjunction with the metal. His shapes are sensuous and appealing, the colours adding a dash of excitement and allure in keeping with a contemporary sense of ‘cool’.
Bewitched by metal as a material from childhood, Oyama chose a university where he could study the art and craft of metalwork without making any conscious choice as to a career path. In second year university, he tentatively entered a work into a competition, unexpectedly taking the grand prize.
That prize-winning work was a functional object, and it is the combination of function and beauty, traditional to Japanese art, that exercises Oyama’s creativity. He wishes to express a new ‘shibui’, the latest, most up-to-date, contemporary, yet with a whisper of nostalgia.
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