Metavoid 3

A pupil of the abstract ceramic sculptor Yagi Kazuo, Akiyama Yo_ has never been interested in making traditional vases, plates, or tea bowls. Instead, over the course of his twenty-five year career, he has devoted himself to fashioning works that reveal the inherent nature of the clay itself. He creates the uniquely cupped and cracked surfaces of his pieces by applying a blowtorch to the still damp clay. In this work, he contrasts this effect with the smoothness of a wheel-turned cylinder, which he attached to the end of the piece, and to the parabola shape below. By using a somber-colored clay and by applying a solution of vinegar and iron to the surface--Akiyama accentuates the dark primordial quality of his work, leaving the viewer to wonder if it is in fact a manmade object, or some ancient formation of nature.