Friday, January 2, 2015

GBNF

I owned this salt fired flattened flask pot a long while back, simply gone but not forgotten. I had acquired it from an Atlanta gallery that carried Michael Simon's work back in the mid-90s. I did however have a dear friend who coveted this pot and as he was always quick to remind me, I had others, in a moment of generosity, it found a new home. I had enjoyed the pot with its strong posture, wonky, off kilter neck and defining lugs, but I was especially fond of the spiral, a device/design that I am quick to use and quicker to admire. As time moved on the pot went off to yet a new home, where I do not know which got me wondering, where are all the pots that have come through my hands? Last year, I reacquired a pot from Japan that I had acquired at a flea market in Massachusetts, traded to an Indiana collector who in turn sold it on eBay, I was the under bidder. Where it went from there and how it got to Japan is a mystery but what I am sure of is that there is no way to predict the trajectory once pots leave and even less as to where they will end up. In the end we all act as temporary curators, just ask the ancient Greeks or feudal era chajin.