Sleek, futuristic and bordering on the cute, OO-IX is a compelling manifestation of the skills and enthusiasms of its highly gifted Japanese maker, who in 2011 was awarded the Grand Prix at the 57th Faenza International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art. Hayashi was born in 1972 in the ceramic-producing centre of Toki City in central Japan. Manga and anime were the staples of his youth, as were the plastic models of robots, cars and motorcycles for which Japan is so well known. After completing a BA in International Relations in 1995, he studied ceramics at Tajimi Technical High School. It was there that he learnt the techniques of porcelain slip-casting that characterize his distinctive approach to making. With its boy rider modelled after his primary school son – when a toddler Hayashi portrayed him wearing a gundam combat suit - OO-IX consists of more than 30 separate components. These were individually cast and then fired, glazed and glued together with extreme precision. On the one hand odes to the world of machines and virtual fantasy, Hayashi’s sculptures also revel in the possibilities afforded by the skills required for the production of hand-crafted plaster moulds.