Frozen Cloud II-8, Satoru Hoshino

Frozen Cloud is a contemporary contrast to the older, more traditional ceramics in this exhibition. Artist Satoru Hoshino emphasizes the essence of clay and its earthy origins in his work. The spiral movement of Frozen Cloud embodies motion that can be observed in many natural phenomena, from the rotation of the sun to the movement of a typhoon or hurricane.

The artist wrote about how a natural disaster that destroyed his studio changed his understanding of clay:

“My approach to clay changed completely after I experienced the natural disaster of a landslide in 1986. Until then, clay had been a material with which to embody the ideas and images already in my mind. Since then, however, the clay has become not simply the material from which a work is derived, but something that lies before me as a force of nature, an existence that overwhelms trivial intentions. The clay has a life and energy of its own; by excluding small thoughts, it forces me into a symbiotic relation with it.”