Chawan / Black Bizen / Bizen / Isezaki Koichiro
Video Premiere--Black Bizen Chawan by Isezaki Koichiro
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with Dentsu and MediaAtlier have produced a series of videos showing different aspects of Japan and its culture to invite folks to visit this amazing country. For the artisan video I was asked to participate and was flattered to be asked and of course I accepted. In the video we stopped by the Isezaki studio where Koichiro talked about his way and showed us his technique of forming; the video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mofachannel#p/u/1/wUcXROYc8fE and http://www.mofa.go.jp/japan_fascinating_diversity/index.html I sezaki Koichiro (b.1974) is the first son of Living National Treasure Isezaki Jun, and is one of the up-and-coming stars of the Isezaki family--that including his four cousins. Isezaki Yozan, Koichiro's grandfather and the father of LNT Jun and Okayama Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property Mitsuru, was of the first generation of great Bizen potters in the 20th century, and was himself an Okayama Prefecture Intangible Cultural Property. Koichiro comes from a family with a storied history, but this does not seem to bog the creativity of this artist. He first studied at the Tokyo Sculptural University before embarking on an apprenticeship with New York-based potter Jeff Shapiro, a talented potter who had learned from Yamashita Joji, Jun's former apprentice. First from Shapiro, Koichiro studied the workings of the anagama kiln, and also picked up the style of forms that he would take back with him back to Bizen. Koichiro's style, thus, is a conglomeration of Shapiro, Jun, and his father's famous apprentice Kakurezaki Ryuichi. However, Koichiro is a keen young artist, and takes all of his influences in stride without dwelling on any single person. He achieves great firings from his father's kiln and a unique firing is his hikidashi (pulled out of the kiln) Black Bizen, of which this chawan is a supreme example with hints of cobalt blue. It's even better then the one now shown at the recent Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Craft Gallery's 'About the Tea Ceremony--A Viewpoint of Contemporary Kogei' and shown in the catalog, a photo of that chawan seen here. The textured form shares more in common with Raku Kichizaemon VX than his father and the firing is varied, rich and shibui; truly special. In perfect condition with a signed box, 11.8cm.tallx12.5x11.5, signed on base.
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