IN CONCERT

I saw my first show of Tamaoki Yasuo's work back in 1991 at a gallery in Kyoto and honestly was immediately hooked on his pottery. First and foremost, I really enjoy the way he handles clay and creates his forms out of a rather fine and textural clay. Secondly the simple yet elemental manner in which he decorates his pots, especially his Shino work just speaks to me from the use of layering of iron under the glazes to the use of varying layers, thicknesses of the Shino glaze itself creating pots, chawan of real textural wonder.   In the illustrated Shino tsubo, Tamaoki has combined a rich, crackle iron engobe or slip together with a simple, even primal rhythmic design composed of both Muji-Shino and Aka-Shino adding to the sense of undulating motion that surrounds the ovalled pot without any breaks in the action. The tall, ovoid form holds the surface and decoration together in harmony which could have easily gotten out of hand and created an incoherent aethetic but instead all the players acting in concert, present a rather  unified vessel. Tamaoki used this technique for two decades creating a body of work where form as canvas and glaze as palette have contributed to a rather busy modern Mino tradition.