Show Statement
An exhibition featuring many of Capolongo’s Kintsugi inspired and related works. They’re an unusual take on the fine Japanese craft of repairing damaged and broken pottery with gold or other precious metals. Kintsugi (golden joinery), aka kintsukuroi (golden mend) is used by Capolongo for its powerful symbolism. Rather than attempting to deny or disguise the breakage, the damage is hi-lighted, becoming part of the object’s history. As in the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi, there is an acceptance of the flawed or imperfect. But in hi-lighting and re-presenting the cracks and repairs, it is not brokenness that is celebrated, but redemption. It is the symbolism inherent in the art of kintsugi – a type of metaphor for human healing, renewal or rebirth - that strikes a chord with the artist, who reminds us that beauty and strength can come from picking up the pieces that life leaves us in sometimes, and making something new.