Dealer Spotlight: TAI Gallery/ Textile Arts

EEE: I’m here with Everett Cole of TAI Galleries/ Textile Art, one of the show’s new exhibitors.  Why did you decide to come out to New York?

Everett Cole: The reputation of the show is really fantastic and it’s something we’ve wanted to do for awhile.  The opportunity presented itself for us to come and so we jumped on it.  We’re really happy with the results. 

Your booth really stands out and a lot of people are talking.  When you turn the corner, you see these bright turquoise walls and incredible baskets which are unlike anything else on the floor.

They’re all contemporary pieces by Japanese artists working in bamboo.  This evolves from a 1000 year old tradition.  It was after World War II that the sculptural tradition started and the artists stopped working with pure vessel forms and started experimenting with sculpture and non-functional objects as well.  This is where it’s evolved to today.  We represent all the artists in Japan who are working on the masters level and there are maybe 50 left.

You represent Japanese crafts, yet the gallery is in New Mexico which has the tradition of Native American arts….

Santa Fe is an art destination for people all over the world which is one reason why it works so well for us.  It’s also a great place to live.  Rob Coffland and Mary Hunt Kahlenberg, the gallery owners, who were previously in Los Angeles, made that choice rather than having this gallery in New York or someplace like Chicago which would be great also.  But it was a quality of life choice.

The baskets are all made of natural fibers.

Yes, all out of bamboo with a little bit of rattan.

Do they dye it in different colors?

They’re dyed and lacquered.  Some artists use synthetic dyes, other only natural ones. 

This basket caught my eye immediately – it’s almost like a giant slinky.

Honda Syoryu, the artist, is from the Oita prefecture in Japan.  He actually had his start, like many of these artists do, making vessels.  And he was always frustrated by the process and never could get something to really work.  He said to Rob, the gallery owner, “I’ve got this idea, but I just don’t have time.”  He was barely scraping by so he was always scrambling to make something to support himself.  So Rob got a collector to agree to sponsor him for three months.   

After that three months, Honda said “I’m this close, but I’m not there yet!”  Rob knew he couldn’t go back to this collector and say "I need three more months" so the gallery sponsored the artist for the final three months to make it happen.  And when he came back to Japan, Honda was so nervous that he couldn’t actually show Rob the piece himself.  He sent it with a friend to show Rob and Mary and they were just blown away and that was the start of this series.

So then it became a series. 

He’s been working with this concept for probably 8 years and playing with ideas and scale and things like that.  He’s also working with other techniques, but still always exploring the medium and innovating which is exciting.

How recent is this piece?

This piece is from this year.

What are these stacked wooden boxes for?   

The Japanese tradition is that because the homes are smaller, they rotate the objects and so they always have a box for storage.  You’ll find that true for Japanese ceramics as well.  Some of the  artists will use cardboard, others the traditional wooden boxes.  Inside the lid, the artist writes the title, and then signs the piece and stamps it, because obviously you can’t stamp the bamboo art itself.  So it’s part of the piece and part of the tradition.