IS LESS MORE?

I'll start out by saying that I am not 100% sure where this photo comes from and if it is "yours" I apologize for using it and also thank you for putting it up on the web. I was struck by the sheer simplicity and power of this wondrous Koie Ryoji mizusashi which is unfettered with detail or contrived detail, it is pure form, adorned only with a rich glaze and his classicly incised decoration. The glaze paints this pot creating a simple narrative with points of extreme interest where the glaze has pooled to create almost mysterious areas of contemplation and focus. I have always been mesmerized by Koie's inate ability to say so very much with what at times appears to be so little but as you really study his pottery and this piece in particular, there are details and subtlties that are easy to miss and it is here that he excells. I am reminded that it is easy to make grand and bold statements that act like diversions but subtlty, simplicity and honest gestures can make a pot that is far more captivating and compelling and the conversation all the richer for it if you just stop and "smell the roses" every now and again.