Urara Tsuchiya

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Urara Tsuchiya (b. 1979, Japan) lives and works between Glasgow and London. The artist’s expansive practice– spanning intricately constructed ceramics, immersive installations, costume, performance and video– is united by its subversion of kitsch or quotidian objects. Her work seemingly playful at first, has undercurrents questioning boundaries of acceptability, tensions in relationships, and traditional patriarchal structures. She has found inspiration everywhere from a naturist sauna, seedy hotel rooms, or interactions on dating apps. By adopting narratives from personal conversations and experiences, and popular culture, Tsuchiya is concerned with story telling and making us question our own concepts of what is or isn't acceptable.

Recent solo exhibitions include: The Sahara, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia (2024) Angel Pocket, Union Pacific, London, UK (2024), Throwing Caution to the Wind, Galerie Lefebre & Fils, Paris (2021), Auntie Urara’s Blabber Mouth, PAOS, Guadalajara (2021), Warm Drizzle, Gallery Golsa, Oslo (2020) and Home Bound, Ada Project, Rome (2020). Selected group exhibitions include: Beyond Ecstasy, Stems, Paris, France (2024), I licked it. It's mine, featuring Oh De Laval, Shafei Xia, and Urara Tsuchiya, The Museum of Sex, New York, US (2024), Night Shades, with Corri-Lynn Tetz, 12.26 Dallas, US (2024), Comfortable hole, bye, Parcel Tokyo, Japan (2023), and Pornotopia Revised, Kunsthalle Exnergasse Kex, WUK, Vienna (2022).

Polly Pocket Fifi’s Paris Apartment, 2024, glazed stoneware, top piece: 43 x 43 x 10, bottom piece: 11.4 x 40 x 42cm

The Sahara (still), 2024, film, 8 mins 45 seconds

Dog Chew, 2024, glazed stoneware, 19.5 x 22.5 x 21.5cm

Polly Pocket Club Med, 2024, glazed stoneware, 23 x 54 x 51 cm

Untitled, 2024, glazed porcelain, 5 x 44 x 19cm

Night Tree, 2023, glazed ceramic, 53 x 47 x 42 cm

Piggy’s Dream, 2022, glazed ceramic, 15 cm x 43 cm

Untitled (lamp), 2020, glazed stoneware, 30 cm x 26 cm x 40 cm

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 63cm x 44 cm x 23cm

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 13 cm tall

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 33 cm x 20 cm

Beef Case , 2019, glazed stoneware, 43 cm x 36cm x 19cm

Mini Bar, 2019, glazed stoneware with moving parts, 55 cm x 40 cm

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 58 x 23 x 38cm

Give us a Meow (still), 2019, video, 9 minutes 3 seconds

JUST cLoSE YoUR EYES anD IMaGInE I HaVEn’T EVoLVED’, 2016, glazed earthenware, 20 cm x 7 cm x 10 cm

Just Close Your Eyes and Imagine I Haven’t Evolved, 2016, glazed earthenware and stoneware, dimensions variable

Panda Bowl (commission), 2020, glazed earthenware, dimensions variable

Just Close Your Eyes and Imagine I Haven’t Evolved, 2016, glazed earthenware and stoneware, dimensions variable

Installation view, Room Service, Union Pacific, 2016

Room Service, Union Pacific, 2016

Just Close Your Eyes and Imagine I Haven’t Evolved, 2016, glazed earthenware and stoneware, dimensions variable

Untitled, 2024, glazed porcelain, 4.5 x 36 x 18cm

Polly Pocket Horse Stable, 2024, glazed stoneware, top piece: 17 x 18.5 x 7.2cm, bottom piece: 4.7 x 18.4 x 17.4cm

Untitled, 2024, glazed porcelain, 3 x 23 x 14.8cm

Smirnoff, 2024, glazed stoneware, 11.2 x 24.7 x 25cm

Polly Pocket Alpine Chalet, 2024, glazed stoneware, top piece: 6.5 x 19 x 16.5cm, bottom piece: 4.5 x 18.5 x 17.6cm

World Doesn't Revolve Around You, 2023, glazed ceramic, 78 cm x 74 cm x 64 cm

Untitled, 2020, glazed earthenware, approx 30 x 18 cm

Installation view of Frieze Focus booth 2019

Why Men Love Bitches, 2019, paint on silk, 62 cm x 52 cm

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 20 cm x 20 cm

Untitled (Sauna), 2019, glazed stoneware, 42 x 30 x 30 cm

Untitled, 2019, glazed stoneware, 28 x 70 x 39cm

Give us a Meow (still), 2019, video, 9 minutes 3 seconds

Untitled (Elsa fountain), 2019, glazed earthenware, 80 cm x 73 cm

Just Close Your Eyes and Imagine I Haven’t Evolved, 2016, glazed earthenware and stoneware, dimensions variable

Installation view, Room Service, Union Pacific, 2016

Room Service, Union Pacific, 2016

Just Close Your Eyes and Imagine I Haven’t Evolved, 2016, glazed earthenware and stoneware, dimensions variable