Looking
like it was painted and made during the time of the great Rimpa painters, Ogata
Korin and Kenzan or Sakai Hoitsu and Suzuki Kiitsu, this thoroughly modern
molded piece was made by Ningen Kokuho, Arakawa Toyozo. Having the feel and
appearance of some old Kyo-yaki this pot was painted with little more than
white and black pigment on a blushed earth toned clay and then covered over in
a thin and highly effective clear glaze to create an object that is truly
timeless and certainly difficult to pinpoint or attribute to an particular
artist/potter. Arakawa suceeded at making the various styles that he worked in
to his own identifiable vocabulary and is well known for his underglazed and
overglazed pots that add to his body of Shino, Seto-guro, Ki-seto and Kohiki
wares. I am never disappointed by what Arakawa's pots have to say and each and
every one has a story, a narrative about form, surface, purpose and aesthetics
that go to the very core of pottery making and using and place his pottery
among some of the finest ever made.
"Of
the time, but timeless" Eero Saarinen
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