Yamanaka Yukinori has created works while staying in various locations both domestically and internationally, drawing from the unique history, culture, and encounters with the people living in those places. This is not merely the creation of artworks; it is a process of “dialogue” that brings to light the invisible memories and layers of time inherent to each place. He does this through performances involving his own body and by borrowing the form of vessels to make these elements emerge in the present.

Yamamura's approach of selecting specific sites and reflecting their historical context and local character aligns with site-specific art—works that can only exist in a particular place—which developed from the 1960s. It also connects to Relational Aesthetics, proposed in the 1990s, which emphasizes the communication and relationships formed between the viewer and the work. It is not public art in the traditional sense of placing sculptures in plazas, but rather belongs to the lineage of New Genre Public Art, which deeply engages with local communities to visualize social issues and history.

What is particularly noteworthy about Yamamura is his fusion of these cutting-edge concepts in contemporary art (relationship and site-specificity) with the extremely classical and physical medium of ceramics (utensils).

At the summer 2024 exhibition “Floating Time, Reflected” at Note Gallery, he created approximately 300 versions of the Kurawanka tea bowl inspired by the history of the Tokaido post town of Hirakatayado. Arranging these bowls, he manifested a Yodo River of vessels, visualizing the former bustle of river transport and the flow of the river itself. In this way, by intertwining “creation” through his own body with the “time” inherent to a place, we rediscover stories hidden within everyday life.

Translating the spirit of traditional craft into the “relationship” of contemporary art, reconnecting the world. Yamamura's endeavors occupy an extremely important position within the contemporary art scene.

Born 1972 in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture

1994 Graduated from the Ceramics Course, Department of Crafts, Faculty of Arts, Osaka University of Arts

2005 Completed Master's Program, Faculty of Fine Arts, Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Norway)

Residency Projects

April 26 - May 10, 2015: 53 Art Museum (China)

August 10–23, 2016: ya-gins (Maebashi, Gunma)

July 31–August 11, 2017: project HVEEM (Norway)

October 20–November 3, 2019: 53 Art Museum (China)  

August 2–22, 2021: Machiya Tentofu Art Space Imagine (Takasago, Hyogo)

October 11–November 7, 2021: Sōko Ramune Factory (Nagata, Hyogo)

March 8–28, 2022: Machiya Tentofu Art Space Imagine (Takasago, Hyogo)

August 1–14, 2023: Machiya Tentofu Art Space Imagine (Takasago, Hyogo)

August 21–September 8, 2023: city allery 2320 (Nagata, Kobe)

October 22–November 3, 2023: EKA Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia) 

Major Solo Exhibitions

2011 “Pot Man” Yamaki Art Gallery / Osaka

2012 “Kobe Beef and Walk: From Mountain to Sea” Gallery Shimada / Hyogo

2012 “From Sea to Mountain” Gallery 301 / Hyogo

2014 “Al Space, Connecting Time and Space” (Art Space Kaoru Outdoor Exhibition / Kobe)

2014 “Waiting for the Wind” 〈Thirdhand Clothing 2014 Spring〉 (CAPSTUDIO Y3 / Kobe)

2015 “Report Exhibition on Residency in Guangzhou, China” (monostanddard / Kobe)

2016 “Daily Life 507Km Away” (ya-gins / Maebashi)

2016 “The Fate of Clothes: Thirdhand Clothing 2014-2015” (monostandard / Kobe)

2016 “I Started Fishing for Hairtail” (GALLERY5 / Kobe)

2017 “Life in Mikage” (Space31 / Kobe)

2019 “Pieces of Stars” (STREET GALLERY / Kobe)

2021 “Infinite Arc: Yesterday, Today, Toward Tomorrow” (Gallery Shimada / Kobe)

2021 “Takasago Life” Machiya (Tentofu Art Space Imagine / Takasago)

2021 〈Relation〉 (Space31 / Kobe)

2021 〈Kobe Bottle Art Exhibition〉 (Shin-Nagata Joint Government Building Gallery / Kobe)

2022 “Life in Takasago” Machiya (Tentofu Art Space Imagine / Takasago)

2022 “Fragments of Time - Scenes from Afar” (Jizai Kukan ArtSpace / Kobe)

2023 “Life in Takasago” Machiya (Tentofu Art Space Imagine / Takasago)

2023 “Life in Nagata” (city allery 2320 / Kobe)

2024 “Floating Time, Reflected” (Note Gallery / Hirakata)

Major Group Exhibitions

2012 “Breathing Art” Ashiya City Museum of Art and History / Hyogo

2025 “From Mingei to Relationships: Perspectives on Community Design” Shiga Prefectural Ceramic Art Museum

2025 Kizugawa Art 2025 “Fieldwork Project” Kamioka Residence / Kizugawa City

Connect Through Art! / Yukinori Yamamura (Artist) “fragments 2005 - 2019”

Hyogo Arts and Culture Foundation

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