If
you have ever had the opportunity to visit the Kawai Kanjiro house in Kyoto or
see any of his non-functional, sculptural works you can't help but be
enthralled with his array of decorated wall plaque. He created these plaques in
a variety of forms, sizes and styles using varying glaze combinations, neriage
or slip trailed decoration, all techniques and ideas he passed on to his many
students. The illustrated gosu wall plaque is by one of his very last students,
Mukunoki Eizo and certainly shows the influence and instructed canons of his
master. First made in a press mold, the clay is removed, firmed up and then
slip trailed and following a bisque fire it is glazed over in the easily
recognizable Kawai gosu creating a stark visual that makes for a rather direct
non-functional work in clay. I will interject my personal belief that even
non-functional objects have a rather distinct function; to enrich and help construct
an environment, in other words, to please the eye and I think that Mukunoki manages
that task with a few quick passes of a slip trailer and a little bit of flair.
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