E-mail: jr@studio-pots.com		Harlequin Gallery 68 Greenwich High Road, London SE10 8LF, England Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8692 7170
Bizen Pottery 4th to 25th June 2006
Below are examples of some of the work available from 4th June. Other examples will be added nearer the start of the exhibition.
Akihiko Kishimoto axe shaped flower vase. Height: 21.3cm (8.4”) SOLD	Yukio Tomori tokkuri with signed wooden box. Height: 12.6cm (5.0”) SOLD
Masami Nishikawa (a pupil of Toyo Kaneshige) tokkuri with signed wooden box. Height: 14.0cm (5.5”)	Koichi Hisamoto yunomi. Height: 9.5cm (3.8”) SOLD
Kozo Kimura flower vase with signed wooden box. Height: 24.4cm (9.6”)	Shoji Takahara vase with signed wooden box. Height: to be confirmed. SOLD
Koichiro Yoshida tokkuri with signed wooden box. Height: 11.5cm (4.6”)	Yukio Tomori tokkuri with signed wooden box. Height: 12.4cm (4.9”)
Kei Fujiwara small hidasuki plate. Diameter: 13cm (5.1”) SOLD	Hiroshi Ema hachi. Height: 10.5cm (4.2”) Diameter: 15.5cm (6.2”)
Denis Bowen, the painter featured in the June 2006 exhibition has always had a preoccupation with molten surfaces and fire meaning that I associate his work with wood-fired pottery, hence my decision to show pots from two of the six ancient Japanese pottery centres, namely Bizen and Shigaraki, alongside the paintings. There wood-firing is king and decoration more or less relies on the interaction of wood and other combustible materials with the clay body. The fifty or so items of miscellaneous work in the exhibition that were produced in Bizen consist mainly of vases, sake bottles (tokkuri) and yunomis that exhibit the typical decoration associated with the area. This is produced by the interaction of clay, wood ash and charcoal (goma, sangiri and yohen), rice straw ash (hidasuki) and fireproof mud markings (botamochi). The work ranges from traditional items, such as a small plate by “the living national treasure” Kei Fujiwara and many of the items by Akihiko Kishimoto to more idiosyncratic tokkuri by Yukio Tomori. There are also two delightful hachi (bowls) by Hiroshi Ema, who fires for between 7 and 12 days, and is regarded as one of the leading contemporary Japanese ceramicists by influential Tokyo gallery owner, Kusaomi Kuroda.
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