I Live By The Sea: A Portrait of Artist Kazunori Hamana
Video shot, directed and edited by August Blum
Original score by Jordan Goldstein
On the occasion of the two-person exhibition, Kazunori Hamana and ooido syoujou at Blum & Poe Tokyo.
Shot on Super 8 in Hamana’s hometown, the rural fishing village of Chiba, this film captures the artist’s daily rhythm, a lifestyle in harmony with surrounding nature, incorporating organic rice-farming and fishing, all which informs Hamana’s art practice. His large and delicate vessels are created from natural clay sourced from the Shiga prefecture, and with a slow and gradual process, the pots are fired and placed outdoors not far from the Pacific coast, imbuing them with iodized air bearing the traces of saltwater. As these objects continue to dry under the radiant sun, enveloped in bamboo trees, or washed by the sea, nature plays a pivotal role in their transformation. Finished with the artist’s mineral glazes, they capture an aesthetic of grace and humility.