2008-06-12 until 2008-07-07
Ch’i Contemporary Fine Art
Brooklyn, New York
Ch’i Contemporary Fine Art is pleased to announce the opening of "Tea Bowls and tea bowls", a group exhibition of Japanese tea bowls by Peter Callas, Joe Campbell, Kristin Muller, Takao Okazaki, and Shane Sellers. Traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony Bowls have been a “staple” form in the ceramic arts for many centuries. They have gone through a series of changes based on the historic era in which they were made, ceramic materials used to build them, firing techniques used to finish them, and most importantly, the individual “taste” of the Tea Master procuring the bowls for use. There are Summer Bowl shapes, Winter Bowl shapes, and those "in between" shapes that Okazaki jokingly claims are for late summer/early winter.
The exhibit consists of a minimum of 30 bowls, at least 6 from each artist, and will explore both the “traditional” styles and techniques, and the “not so traditional”. All 5 of the artists work, at times, within the relatively tight constraints of volume and aesthetics that are mandated by traditional thinking about the Tea Bowl. All 5 artists also choose at times to “color outside the lines” when making a tea bowl. How are these different? Why are these different? Is one “type” by definition more artistic, better suited for use, or more “acceptable”? These are the questions posed by the artists, to be answered by the audience that views the work. Soetsu Yanagi in his classic The Unknown Craftsman best describes this “shibui” concept as follows: “It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator – creation here means, rather, making a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for himself”.
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