Tets Ohnari (b. 1980, Tokyo) makes sculpture and installation in glass, stone, marble, wood, mirror, brass and LED, ranging from small objects to installations several metres in size. He starts from Japanese minimalism and charges it with ideas of symmetry, contrast, breaking and repair: broken glass reassembled, cut stone that looks soft, and the business cards of gallerists and curators cut up in the “monos” series.
He graduated in sculpture from Nihon University College of Art (2004) and took his MA at Tokyo University of the Arts (2008). From 2005 to 2007 he studied in Prague on a Czech government scholarship, at the Academy of Fine Arts (Jaroslav Róna’s studio) and at VŠUP (Marian Karel’s studio), and in 2022 he received his doctorate from J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Since 2010 he has lived between Prague and Tokyo.
Solo exhibitions: B Gallery, Tokyo (2012); H’art Gallery, Bucharest (2013); “Tets Ohnari ∞ Egon Schiele” at Dai-ichi Life South Gallery, Tokyo (2014); “tear” at TEZUKAYAMA Gallery, Osaka, and “reflection” at Galéria Jána Koniarka, Trnava (2016); “HOME” at Egon Schiele Art Centrum, Český Krumlov (2020); and “buttai” at TEZUKAYAMA (2021). Group exhibitions include the Finnish Glass Museum, Pola Museum Annex, SIGNAL Festival Prague and Invalidovna, and VOLTA13 Basel with TEZUKAYAMA Gallery (2017). He has received the Takifuji Prize, an honourable mention at VOCA (2012) and grants from the Japan Foundation, the Pola Art Foundation and the Japanese government.
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