Otani Workshop: Monsters In My Head

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Installation view, “Otani Workshop: Monsters in My Head” at the Vancouver Art Gallery (photo courtesy of Vancouver Art Gallery)

Walking into the darkened entry to Monsters in my Head, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s exhibition of Otani Workshop, viewers encounter the smell of earth, hollow logs, scattered branches, sprouting seedlings — and monsters. 

The monsters — ceramic sculptures of bears, beavers, unnameable beasts, and children — perch atop or inside logs and emerge from pools of glassy water. An imaginary creature that the artist calls a tanilla, which resembles a toothy dinosaur with a child’s face, appears throughout. The overall effect is more one of whimsy than terror.

The show is on view through Nov. 9, 2025. 

Born in Shiga Prefecture, a rural area outside Kyoto, Shigeru Otani, 45, studied sculpture at the Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts. He spent a decade in the ancient city of Shigaraki mastering the art of ceramics, adopting the name Otani Workshop in 2005. In 2017, he relocated to Awaji Island in the Seto Inland Sea, where his studio, a former roof tile factory, looks out at the sea.

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Otani Workshop, “Picture Book Painting: Self-portrait at Birth,” 2024, oil on canvas with wooden frame, 21" x 18" x 0.9" (photo by Kei Okano, courtesy of the Vancouver Art Gallery)

In 2010, he was befriended and promoted by Takashi Murakami, the brash art entrepreneur and founder of the Superflat Movement, whose work was seen in the VAG’s 2018 exhibition The Octopus Eats its Own Leg. 

However, unlike the extroverted Murakami, whose vibrant neo-pop works critique both Japanese and Western culture, Otani Workshop’s output is altogether more poetic and nostalgic. While Murakami employs an army of assistants, Otani Workshop largely works alone.

The artist looks back to Haniwa tomb figures as well as to contemporary life. He aspires to imbue his work with spirit, to invoke an unseen universe in keeping with his Shinto beliefs. “I try not to give my work any particular meaning, but I do want to create something that feels intimate,” the artist says in the video accompanying the exhibition.  

Otani’s signature pieces embody the aesthetic of Kawaii, or cuteness. Although manifestations of Kawaii are familiar to the West, particularly manga and anime, the concept’s roots lie deep in Japanese culture. Contemporary Kawaii encompasses comics, food, fashion, advertising, and merchandise such as “Hello Kitty.” Characterized by large heads, simplified features, and pastel colours, Kawaii projects vulnerability and is thought to promote empathy and happiness. 

Kawaii qualities lend his sculptures an irresistible charm, but more than charm is at work here. Otani’s output is prodigious, his inventiveness and skill compelling. His years in Shigaraki are evident in his mastery of the ceramic medium. His forms are simplified yet precise and sensitively modelled. Surfaces are varied in texture and finish, ranging from bare clay through intricately painted or richly glazed.

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Installation view, “Otani Workshop: Monsters in My Head” at the Vancouver Art Gallery (photo courtesy of Vancouver Art Gallery)

The forest sculptures were created locally during a residency at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby, and much of the installation material was gathered from Deer Lake Park and environs. In the video, which was filmed on location, the artist reflects on his excitement at seeing coyotes, beavers, owls, and nature in that setting. The local connection generates rapport between the artist and viewers despite differences in language and culture. 

The second room is open and brightly lit to accommodate the display of several large paintings, including an enormous image of a sleeping tanilla. Created from tiny daubs of blended paint, the surface radiates with luminous colour. Other smaller paintings include ones used to illustrate an artist book he produced recounting his development as an artist.

Interspersed with the paintings are small sculptures in ceramic, bronze, and FRP, fibre-reinforced plastic. Arranged on jury-rigged supports made from odd scraps of lumber, a ladder, a sheet of rusted steel, and other recycled material, most are of children’s heads or head-shaped pots. Creatures such as caterpillars, bears, and the ubiquitous tanilla also make their appearance. Winsome and appealing in themselves, they feel a bit lost in the cavernous space.

A final room displays three substantial pots based on the Chinese zodiac — a snake, a cow, and a monkey. A cascading flow of turquoise glaze brightens the monkey, while delicate drips and patterns decorate the cow and snake. 

The installation was developed in collaboration with the Vancouver Ikebana Society, members of which created flower arrangements for the three containers. Ikebana emphasises the use of seasonal materials, and the artist requested they all be organic. Due to restrictions on living plants and water in the gallery, only dry materials are used. Nonetheless, the compositions are dramatic and expressive.

Monsters in My Head offers viewers an opportunity to see work by an internationally acclaimed artist. The work is embedded deeply in the artist’s Japanese heritage and culture, yet it appeals to a broad audience. Fostering imagination, the exhibition is optimistic and engaging. Reaching out to the local community, it builds bridges across cultures. ■

Otani Workshop, Monsters in My Head, is on view now through Nov. 9, 2025, at Vancouver Art Gallery.

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