The surface of this tall tapering vessel by Kako Katsumi is articulated through a disciplined field of incised vertical striations, their rhythm tightening and loosening as they move across the changing planes of the body. These lines are filled with iron-rich slip, creating a vivid interplay between warm red bands and the exposed, pale clay beneath. At intervals, the pattern is interrupted by softly eroded passages where the surface opens into a granular, almost weathered skin. Coloration is grounded in earthen reds and buff tones, subtly modulated by firing to produce areas of deepened warmth and muted, ash-softened highlights. The texture is tactile and crusted, with the slip catching along the ridges and breaking slightly at the edges of incision. In contrast, the interior is finished in a dense, lustrous black, creating a contained depth that offsets the exterior’s dry, striated vitality. It is 22 x 18.5 x 37 cm (9 x 7-1/2 x 15 inches) and comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Kyokuza, dating from this year.
Kako Katsumi was born in Kyoto in 1965, and graduated the ceramics department of Saga Art College in 1986. He was selected for the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, the Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition and the Kyoten held at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art in 1988, followed in 1989 by the National Ceramic Art Exhibition and Mino International Ceramics Exhibition. He has since exhibited and or been selected/ awarded many times at these prestigious events. He established his kiln in Nishiwaki City in 1991. In 1994 he worked in Melbourne. Australia, and would create a second kiln in 2001. In 2004 he would be awarded the Prize of Excellence at the Tanabe Museum of Art Modern Tea Forms exhibition. In 2005 he established his current kiln in Sasayama, Hyogo prefecture. In 2009 his work was featured at the Kikuchi Biennale Exhibition and the following year was awarded at the 4th Contemporary Tea Bowls Exhibition, and in 2011 was selected for the influential Paramita Ceramic Exhibition. 2013 saw him in New York, and 2014 at the Museum of Ceramic Art in Hyogo (Kobe). Held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others.
