Sugimoto Sadamitsu 杉本貞光 Japanese, b. 1935

“Modern visual taste, weaned on the sculptural Impressionism of Bourdelle and Rodin or on the painterly abstractions of Pollock and Dubuffet – that is, trained to accept the semiotic language of organic process – can more easily embrace the “accidental” attributes of Raku, Iga, Bizen, Shigaraki, Karatsu, and Tamba glazes.” Here, Dr Richard A Perry writes on contemporary western conceptions around wabi sabi, shibui, and Japanese aesthetics. He asserts that the taste for these modern aesthetic ideals in the west are innately tied to the properties of the ceramic tea...