Greater Jars and Ordinary Vessels:Turning Fray into Faculty

Atsushi Ogata

November 25, 2017 – December 20, 2017
GALLERY HOURS :11:00 – 19:00
GALLERY CLOSED:
SUNDAY, MONDAY, PUBLIC HOLIDAY
RECEPTION:Saturday, November 25, 2017 18:00 –

A message from the artist

A small bud sprouted from the belly of one of my large jars while it was still mid-production.

Producing a large jar takes a lot of time, so in the time it took for the clay to dry it seems like some sort of seed took root.

At times like this, I can feel the breath of life/nature inside the clay, something like the strength of the earth. It made me happy.

Until now, I have been making utsuwa (vessels) using the hakeme and kohiki techniques.

Even with these, I was most fond of and sought to create the ones with cracks and fissures on the surface, uneven finishes caused by stray pebbles, and imprints of iron powder.

As far as utsuwa go, they are a little hard to handle, and they are all troublesome.

I refer to these works as pieces with fray, or hokorobi.

Not the type of hokorobi that is cracked to the point of failure, but just enough that it can be patched up.

I can see the strength of the earth hiding in these fissures, and I’m drawn to them.

That is not to say you can simply fire a lump of soil and call it a work.

The fact that it takes the form of a vessel is the very thing that makes it interesting.

Utsuwa is an everyday object.

In daily life, inside the hokorobi of an utsuwa, I feel like I am finding a small piece of nature.

A slight imperfection looks good on utsuwa. Hokorobi, to me, is happiness.

Atsushi Ogata

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