TEA BOWL by FUJINO Seiichiro

TEA BOWL  IWAHAI RYUTEN #20 Heavenly dragon rock goblet by FUJINO Seiichiro

Heisei period, 2017
Camphor kusu
Black and red lacquer with tinfoil
14.5/18 ( dia.) x 11.2 cm.
Signed. Signed tomobako

Fujino’s series of works, Iwahai Ryuten, explores the traditional tea-bowl, chawan, – a vessel that expresses a central traditional element of Japanese life – the Way of Tea.  He is working with this iconic item to focus on human intervention with nature in its creation and its use.

The work is first carved from a single piece of camphor wood, kusu – a massive evergreen hardwood indigenous to East Asia that is highly valued for its distinctive aroma and medicinal uses. The carving contrasts smooth with rough, in a range of decorative textures that celebrate the act of cutting with the carver’s knife. The resultant complex form has a unique tactile quality that sits naturally in the hands, which can feel and use every irregularity.  Finally, the application of many layers of black and coloured lacquers and tin foil inlays enhances and highlights the textures, adding colour and metallic reflection, in a rich and deep transparency that never eclipses the core material.

The full depth of Fujino’s lacquer ware pieces reveals itself only slowly, prompting speculation regarding both intent and technique. He has expressed his goal as being ‘to capture the living quality of the materials used and make explicit the human act of processing the material into a utilitarian object’. His prize-winning work is regularly exhibited across Japan.

For all enquiries please contact:
Simon Pilling
simon@simonpilling.co.uk
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