WAS IST KUHL?

Now I realize in a previous post, I have covered the potential pitfalls of discussing an object as cool. Does the discussion itself, negate the cool factor or do some things just transcend any taint from the intellectual excercise, to just be cool. Tooling around the web, including the omnipresent Wikipedia, cool has a wide variety of meanings, mostly subjective, but the general concensus is that it is a description of a visual, attitude or style that is held by many as an appreciated attribute and in many instances a sign or creation of a moment in time. From my perspective cool is about the presented attitude and posture, in this instance, a pot pocesses and conveys to a viewer. I am not talking about gimics, but an honesty and character that has something more than its initial visual impact to say to us. There are a number of such pots that spring to mind from ancient times to very contemporary pots, but few speak that language as well or as fluently as the works of Colin Pearson (1923-2007).

Illustrated is the epitome of cool, from my perspective, a teapot by Colin Pearson from the early 90's. Despite its somewhat unconventional form, it is a fully functional teapot, one set of wings act as a handle while the other acts as a spout. Interestingly enough, this teapot is illustrated in the book; THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POTTERY TECHNIQUES by Peter Cosentino in which it is an example of sculptural and abstract form with this commentary; "the surface treatment demonstrates the clay's texture, its malleable qualities and the immediacy of throwing as a means of both production and shaping". Granted, it is a pot you must accommodate yourself to, but it will function or can just sit idly by while you appreciate it and drink it its attitude. In a way, that sounds just like Jack Nicholson!

"Cool is a knowledge, a way of life."  Lewis MacAdams (b. 1944)

(Illustration used with the kind permission of a collector)