Tea bowl (chawan) c. 20th century

This pale pink tea bowl was made by Takeuchi Kimiaki, sometime before 2011. It looks like it was made with intuition, slowly coaxed into shape through trial, error, and then, success! I can imagine what it might have been like to create this bowl. I can imagine the wheel spinning, the clay squishing between Takeuchi’s fingers. The texture is so fascinating—it looks like the clay has cracked, but in a controlled way. The color is subtle, so quiet, so pale. It reminds me of a whisper. It’s like an off-white that has been kissed by the sun. Looking at this chawan, I think about other artists working with clay, or even artists working with paint. How they all are in an ongoing conversation with one another, inspiring creativity across time. This bowl is an embodied expression of art. I'm sure it embraces ambiguity, offering multiple interpretations, rather than just one fixed meaning.