BRIEF ENCOUNTER

I had an extremely brief encounter with a rather nice pot by Takauchi Shugo yesterday at which time I took a lot of photos of it and then posted it up on Trocadero all as a favor to a friend. The pot in question is the illustrated Oribe te-oke, perhaps the quintessential form associated with Takauchi Shugo in which the the clay was roughly thrown leaving a variety of marks around the piece at which time he then hacked away vertical channels disrupting the surface and adding a sense of dramatic tension and even a hint of aggression to the piece. The top of the form was also quickly cut and a handle was skillfully added to the form which adds a striking visual presence to the pot and then it was glazed and fired in his trademark, rich Oribe glaze which has accentuated every mark made. The encounter of about two hour was brief as it went about as quickly as it arrived; it arrived, it was re-packed, it was shipped. I enjoyed this brief encounter but would have been just as happy have more time to spend with it but hopefully the 100+ photos and possible slideshow video down the road will be reminder enough of the time spent well.