Masayoshi Oya: Tales of the Hand

Exhibition at Vandalorum January 24 – May 5 2026

Press preview Friday 23 January at 10.00 in the presence of Masayoshi Oya and Museum Director Elna Svenle.

Registration: johanna.hansson@vandalorum.se

In the spring of 2026 Vandalorum presents an extensive solo exhibition with ceramist Masayoshi Oya. The exhibition will feature new ceramic works, glass, sketches, textiles as well as an animation that brings the audience into Oya's artistic process, created specifically for Vandalorum in collaboration with British artist and animator Ben Baker.

During his studies in Japan in the early 2000s, Oya struggled to find his own artistic identity. The education was rooted in a long ceramic tradition and aimed to achieve the highest possible technical skill in every step of the craft. Oya left the multicultural city of Tokyo, and after studying at a ceramics school in Seto, he moved in 2007 to the village of Vickleby on the island of Öland, Sweden to study at Capellagården. There he encountered a new approach to both education and personal expression, and greatly valued studying under ceramist Kennet Williamsson. After Capellagården, Oya went directly on to a master’s programme at HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design in Gothenburg, Sweden—a city he has remained loyal to, and where he now runs Studio Oyama.

Since moving to Sweden, Oya has developed a distinctive yet continually evolving expression at the intersection of two cultures— the Japanese and the Swedish. His acclaimed and highly sought-after ceramic production spans both functional ware and art objects, and has reached an international audience. Traditional Japanese craft is a major source of inspiration, but he is equally influenced by environments, encounters, and experiences in his new homeland of Sweden—impressions that shape both his ideas and his identity as an artist. Here, he has developed an influential painterly world of patterns with a vibrant colour palette, far removed from the earthy tones that dominate Japanese functional ceramics.

"Ceramics hold incredible possibilities. With them, I can create different feelings, surfaces, and objects—from practical items to art. I make simple forms and combine them with the glaze’s unpredictable behaviour. It’s like painting on canvas."

Masayoshi Oya (b. Tokyo, 1979) lives and works in Gothenburg, where he runs Studio Oyama. He holds a master’s degree in craft from HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design and has also studied ceramics at Capellagården and at the Aichi Prefectural Seto Yogyo School, Aichi, Japan. He has exhibited at, among others, Gothenburg Museum of Art, the Design Museum in Helsinki, Wanås Konst, the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo, the Röhsska Museum, and Kunstmuseet i Tønder. In 2019 he received the Sten A Olsson Cultural Grant, and in 2022 the Ulrika Hydman Vallien Foundation Grant.

A catalogue will be published in connection with the exhibition, featuring a conversation between Masayoshi Oya and Swedish potter Ingegerd Råman, moderated and written by culture journalist Gunnar Bolin. The catalogue is designed by Stefan Engblom, with photography by Patrik Lindell. The exhibition design is created by TAF Studio.

Thanks to: Estrid Ericson Foundation, Tore G. Wärenstam Foundation, Swedish Arts Council, Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality and Vandalorum's partners: Hamrin, Liljedahl, Svenstig

Photos: Daniel Grizelj