POLYCHROMATIC

Okay, I can hear a number of people going, what the heck am I looking at and understandably so. I have had this piece sitting on a shelf that gets indirect light from a light in the hallway and as you walk in the room, this is what you see, shimmering back at you from the dark room like some image beamed back from the Hubble telescope. What you are actually looking at is a detail shot of a Matsuzaki Ken Yohen-Shino mizusashi which has created a surface which is a contrast of a thick snowy white feldspar Shino and areas of nebulus iridescence that shows up under the right lighting conditions otherwise it looks like an iron rich, almost caramel colored Shino glaze. There is never a dull moment with this surface as it changes with every degree of angle it is viewed at and is painted through a fierce determination of the will of the potter and the demanding and ferocious nature of the kiln firing stoked by various woods and charcoal. I am a huge fan of complex surfaces that give the viewer not only a lot to think about but a great amount of conversation regarding pot and process, though many pots can be much ado about nothing, this Matsuzaki Ken pot is certainly not one of those.