HONEST PRACTICALITY

In past blog posts I have shown the kodai and interior detail of this shark-skin (Same-gawa) Shino chawan by the late Kato Yoshiaki (1934-2019). I thought it was about time to show an overall image especially as I have be very delinquent in putting together a slideshow video of the chawan. As you can see from this photo, this chawan is really a visual and tactile exercise in texture with varying node sizes of the Shino creating vivid  semi-abstract pattern, the largest of which wrap around the bowl creating an animated feel. I think it is easy to admit this is no masterpiece chawan but thehonest practicality, the function and the sum of its parts make for a chawan that has both spirit and quality that appeals to the eye and the interesting experience one has with the pot in hand and truth be told, not every masterwork can say the same.   

This chawan was photographed on my desk corner as the light of the day was just about to yield to dusk which created this slightly more complex visage of what is actually going on with the glaze. The entire surface, inside and out and into the myriad of crevices is covered in a slight sheen of wetness caused by ash melting on the surface giving the bowl a truly antique, feudal feel without obscuring any of the detail created by the glazes of varying thicknesses contracting about the surface. The form of the bowl is rather simple, with an approachable lip and a practically cut foot and a simple glaze that all add up to a exercise in structure, texture and ultimately character adding a new dimension to the classical definition of what we think of as Tokoname-yaki.   

"I search for the realness, the real feeling of a subject, all the texture around it.... I always want to see the third dimension of something... I want to come alive with the object."    Andrew Wyeth