BOUNDARIES

I have to admit, trying to photograph this solitary and somber seiji chawan is likely beyond my skill level but I will let these photos try to tell the story of this bowl. Made by Uraguchi Masayuki this chawan has a less bright, darker tone where some of the crazing is highlighted with a distinct iron red acting like boundaries between fractures in the celadon glaze. Truly one of the outstanding features of this chawan and other pieces like it is that around the foot and in the interior's mikomi, the glaze takes on a very distinct and opaque quality that differs and stands out from the rest of the piece guiding the eyes to these distinct attractions without seeming incongruous to the overall aesthetic.  

Despite having studied the Chinese archetypes and learning from Miura Koheiji, this chawan and in fact much of his work shows a distinct dependence on the later works of Okabe Mineo from shape and surface. Though one could easily argue that Uraguchi and Okabe were simply feeding off the historical antecedents, to my eye there are subtleties that Uraguchi has "nicked' from Okabe Mineo and then absorbed into his own vocabulary to create a stand alone body of work. This work reflects an idiosyncratic voice built upon what had come before but is moving toward tomorrow. Employing a studied and innovative approach to making his works stand apart from many of his contemporaries while at the very same time standing shoulder to shoulder within a new aesthetic based on over a millennium of prior expression and a rather broad diversity from pottery to pottery and potter to potter.