When
I first saw this photo I immediately thought of some far off geometry lesson
cloaked in a filter of green glass; it reminded me of the doodling I did in
high school instead of concentrating on the subject at hand. There is a sense
of geometry to much of the work of Usui Kazunari (b.1954) and this futamono
covered box shows a pristine attention to detail that goes well beyond
precision to create a piece that is immediately visually engaging and
contemplative. Born and trained in Seto and studying under Kato Shunto, Kazunari studied
at the Nagoya University of Art before establishing his own studio in 1984 and
has had a splendid career focused on a modern interpretation of Oribe with
surface decoration that specializes in incised and inlay work. Using crisp incised
lines and areas of inlaid color, the surface shares a wealth of color that
communicates like a modern day artistic rendering of a mathematical fractal. If
one were to simple describe his pots they could easily come across as technical
exercises but when you see the finished piece nothing could be farther from the
truth.
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