OPEN NOW: Nao Matsunaga, A Year’s Thought

Installation View: Nao Matsunaga, A Year's Thought, in the gallery at Roche Court Sculpture Park.

On Saturday, we were delighted to open Nao Matsunaga: A Year's Thought, a solo exhibition in the gallery at Roche Court Sculpture Park.

This exhibition brings together the many facets of Nao Matsunaga’s practice. Together with his ceramics, it also includes a new series of wood carvings, conceived and created at Roche Court from timber collected from the ancient trees throughout the park.

The New Art Centre has shown Nao Matsunaga’s work for many years. In 2017, his solo show, Blue & White, included a collection of porcelain sculptures exhibited in the Artists House.

Nao Matsunaga, Time Matters Differently, 2025, Yew, 182 x 74 x 40 cm
Nao Matsunaga, Beast from Shigaraki, 2022, Glazed ceramic, Feldspar, 32 x 39 x 24 cm

Pictured: Private View for Nao Matsunaga:A Year's Thought at Roche Court Sculpture Park.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Nao Matsunaga (b. 1980) studied at the University of Brighton (1999 – 2002) on the ‘Wood, Metal, Ceramic and Plastic’ course. He completed his MA in Ceramic and Glass at the Royal College of Art in 2007. His work has been included in numerous major solo and group exhibitions across the world. From 2017 to 2018, Nao’s work was shown in Things of Beauty Growing, a major exhibition curated by Simon Olding, Martina Droth and Glenn Adamson at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Things of Beauty Growing toured to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Recent one-man shows include in Tokyo, Japan, Pseudo Stone Phenomenon, at Komagome Soko (2022); Hybrid of sorts/hybrid of thoughts, Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix, London (2022) and Deepcuts, curated by Anthony Shaw at Marsden Woo Gallery, London (2020).

Nao Matsunaga has completed many artist residences across the world, such as at the Arizona State University Art Museum, in Phoenix, USA (2013); the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2014); the 29th International Symposium of Ceramics Bechyně, Czech Republic (2021), and in Japan at the Shigaraki Cultural Ceramic Park in both 2022 and 2025. In 2012, Matsunaga won the Jerwood Makers Open, and in 2013, was the winner of the British Ceramics Biennial Award. He attained a Bursary from the British Council in Indonesia in 2016. His work can be found in public collections including the York Museum and Art Gallery, York; Crafts Council, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Nao Matsunaga lives and works in London.

From left to right:
Nao Matsunaga, Flabber, 2017, Glazed porcelain, 25 x 29 x 24 cm
Nao Matsunaga, Tower of Wishful Thinking, 2017, Glazed porcelain, 30 x 20 x 17 cm
Nao Matsunaga, Smile!! If U Wanna, 2017, Glazed porcelain, 33 x 33 x 20 cm