For a culture that seems more than occasionally to pride itself on sticking to the norm, on predictability, on staying under the radar, it was surprisingly responsible for creating some of the most unusual, unpredictable, and dazzling ceramics in Asian history. Kato Tsubusa contributed to this phenomenon, exemplified here by one of his dishes that looks ripped from a slab of clay, and torn some more, catapulting us into a specific Kato world. Yet the bright white porcelain and the glacial color of its breathtaking glaze provides a detour into a landscape of Chinese ceramics. The Song-dynasty yingqing “shadow-blue” or qingbai “bluish-white” ancestors of Kato’s work look by contrast sleepy, stuck to the norm, predictable. But we love them both.
Kato Tsubasa’s heritage, a family history of ceramic production over several centuries, led him naturally into what would be his avocation and profession. While his early path was not exceptional, as a worker at a kiln producing pots on a commercial scale and a formal education in ceramic design, Kato’s own creative instincts were given outlet when he established his own kiln in Tomika-cho in Gifu, his home prefecture. At one point the nature of his stunning work, held now in numerous public collections, was characterized by Joan Mirviss, from whom the present piece was acquired many moons ago, “…..He carves his works, sometimes incorporating fragments that have resulted from the force applied to the clay during this process back into the pieces. His works manifest motion, not tranquility. Random glaze reactions in the kiln and his formative process combine in complex ways to create his works of sharpness and tension that are often inspired by the sharp jagged edges of swords or knives. The rough surfaces serve to emphasize and accent the natural flaws in clay.” 1
The present piece, when considered within Kato’s oeuvre as a whole, is clearly on the conservative side. Yet to those schooled in classic Chinese ceramics, it is a raging liberal.
1. https://www.mirviss.com/artists/kato-tsubusa
Details:
