Otani Workshop is the name used by Japanese sculptor Shigeru Otani (b. 1980), a 2004 sculpture graduate of Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. A 2016 show at Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo marked his breakthrough, and he has since been represented by Perrotin, exhibiting in Paris, New York, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong. He is best known for ceramic figures of children, faces and animals with simplified, exaggerated forms and raw surfaces.
Otani Workshop is the name under which the Japanese artist Shigeru Otani (b. 1980, Shiga Prefecture, Japan) works. He grew up near Shigaraki, one of Japan’s historic ceramic centres, and in 2004 graduated in sculpture from Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. He then worked at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, and in 2005 he established Otani Workshop. His studio is now housed in a former tile factory on Awaji Island. His practice ranges from sculpture made with ceramic techniques to bronze and FRP sculpture as well as painting. Otani is best known for ceramic figures of children, faces and animals with simplified, exaggerated forms and raw, tactile surfaces, which combine the traditions of Japanese pottery with a contemporary sensibility. A 2016 solo exhibition at Kaikai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo marked a turning point, allowing him to set up larger studio space and kilns for large-scale work. He has since been represented by Perrotin, with exhibitions in Paris, New York, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong, including the solo show “anima” at Perrotin New York (2025), and he returned to Kaikai Kiki Gallery with “Tanilla Tanilla Tanilla” in 2024. The unique ceramic sculpture “Count On Me” (2016), offered by TUMO Gallery, dates from the year of his breakthrough exhibition in Tokyo.
