Setsu Junji — Between clay and mind




When I was still in Japan, I encountered the amazing work of Setsu Junji at Robert Yellin yakimono gallery. Rarely have I been so moved by a work of art.

These poems were written about a vase that look a lot like the one on the picture. I hope that this unique picture and these few lines will be enough to bring to the gallery where you can see the artist's works in flesh...I mean clay.






(c) R. Yellin
As the black stain swarms in white absentia, its very own matter wavers between ink, smoke and cloud. Yet, this moment, beyond reality and abstraction, exists here as clay and slip, with no prior nor after movement. The dance of the shape is still

— still, in the silence of time.



** * 


The black shape is a teaching about our mind. It is like a thought stain on the white uncertain sheet of consciousness, never lingering in one place and laying in its whole width at the instant it goes through. Wide elds of monotony, tricked escapes and unsought paths all present without order — as a  mind turned into clay. 


My deepest thanks go to Mr. Yellin who kindly allowed me to stare at these ceramics for two hours straights and using this picture form his website. More about Setsu Jinju can be found on his website by the way.


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