Tsubo Vessel

1998-1999

In this monumental work, Yanagihara Mutsuo combines curvaceous, biological forms with precise lines and sumptuous metal finishes. Yanagihara is part of a group of Japanese ceramic artists active in the late twentieth century who strove to reintroduce eye-catching glazes and patterns in their wares. They sought to contradict the conventional wisdom, at the time, that the addition of surface embellishment diminished the impact of three-dimensional forms. Yanagihara acknowledged that his voluptuous, metallic vessels lacked restraint, but he said that they were in keeping with the decadence and rampant materialism he witnessed in both Japan and the West in the 1980s and 1990s.