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A New Beginning (Spanish)

(Spanish) I finished a great anthology last year entitled, “Sumballein,” which also deals with Japan, the memory of ceramics, the physical part of the material, the ceramic element, the objects, and the breakage [that occurs] in firing [process], and the possibility that [always exists] that the pieces break in the oven. In short, [the pieces] do not survive. And in my case, [there is] persistence and the need to put the pieces together [to] make them whole again, fusing them with new firings. I am reminded of my Japanese teachers who tossed the broken pieces into the river and did not want to use them anymore. I hid the pieces, their pieces, underneath some rocks and they came and shouted at me, saying that I was stealing from them, that I had to break them and return them to nature in order to start the process anew, [and] to search for that perfection. Sometimes I responded that it seemed to me that I did not have such a feeling for perfection or imperfection, that it all was part of the journey. Twenty years later I saw my teacher again and he had saved one of the cups that I had put aside of his work that should have been tossed into the river to become broken pieces and sand, [in short], to return to Mother Nature, and I had put it away as a symbol of this commentary that I made for him, and he…we have a great relationship. This work, “Sumballein,” was also very important because of this feeling [that I had] to recall the relationship [that exists] with being a ceramist, [and] with Japan. Nevertheless, I would say that if I had to have a book or some written material [with me], it would have to be [of a] more technical [kind] from the perspective of the research involving aesthetic analysis, of the history of art, in short. The last two works, “A Zen Parable and Ten Short Stories,” [exhibited] in the Cultural Center, and the earlier work entitled, “Only Clouds,” [which is] dedicated to my father [and found] in the Cultural Center of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, have been more gaseous examples of my work, more ethereal, more compact, hermetic, very personal in a very special way. [These works] made me do things that I would not have done otherwise, to write in this way, to dedicate a song sung to my father in the other work. And I believe that there is an important moment for me, of realizing that perhaps I need to finish things that I started. One moves forward in life, making objects, exhibits, developing exhibits in a given space, getting to know people, to go [places], [to] travel, in short, and suddenly one thing increases the façade, the crab shells, the removal of the skin always increases [such things], at some moment perhaps it is important to leave aside so much initial appearances, so much shell, and to begin again to take account of what is most essential. I hope [my work] expresses such things. The most difficult part is to remain honest; I always say how difficult the next step is, now I feel a great emptiness, the space of neutrality in order to begin from scratch and to try to begin to say things.


Date: December 7, 2007

Location: Lima, Peru

Interviewer: Harumi Nako

Contributed by: Asociación Peruano Japonesa (APJ)

Interviewee Bio

Carlos Runcie Tanaka was born in 1958 in Lima, Peru. After studying philosophy he began to practice the art of ceramics. He also studied in Brazil, Italy, and Japan. He participates in group exhibitions both in Peru and abroad, particularly contemporary art exhibits. Tanaka’s work also has been exhibited in museums and private collections in various countries. He has shown his work since 1981 in Latin America, United States, Japan, and Italy. In the last few years he has been a visiting professor in several prestigious universities in the United States and Japan. In addition to his research and exhibits, Tanaka has maintained a ceramics workshop since 1979, employing local products and gas ovens for the firing (1300 C) of his objects, which are utilitarian and functional in nature. In November 2007 he exhibited the work “A Zen Parable and Ten Short Stories” in the Ryoichi Jinnai Gallery at the Japanese-Peruvian Cultural Center during the 35th Annual Japanese Cultural Week. At the same time, in December of 2007, he published his first book, also entitled A Zen Parable and Ten Short Stories, under the auspices of the Japanese Peruvian Association. (December 7, 2007)

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Presented in Spanish