Mihara Ken 三原研 Japanese, b. 1958
H 14.8 x W40.5 x D16.7cm
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Growing up in Izumo, Mihara Ken was inspired by the beauty of the vast natural landscape. He uses an iron-laden clay and high-fired temperatures to create beautifully textured pieces that mimic the softly aged, gradating surfaces of natural stone. His pieces are unglazed and multifired. Serious and meditative, his ceramics contemplate shapes inspired by craft forms outside of ceramics such as lacquerware, paper crafts, bronzes, and ancient traditions. The shape of this vessel calls to mind early bronzeware with integrity and might. It projects such a quiet grandeur; one views it with awe. The piece is architecturally built with multiple firings, so that the ash overflows naturally on the object. All the lines on this object is simple and straight, the tilted bottom. Mihara Ken is a decorated ceramicist, with acquisitions in over 40 leading institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.