Utilitarian Vessels Transformed Into Otherworldly Ceramic Objects by Keiko Masumoto

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When it comes to art and craft, there’s a fine line between the two. Can art be utilitarian? Can craft be simply decorative without serving any functional purpose? What ceramic artist Keiko Masumoto wants to do is to take that fine line and crumple it into a ball and kick it around a little.

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After studying ceramics at the Kyoto City University of Arts, Masumoto spent some time in a residence program at Philadelphia’s University of ARTS. She’s also spent considerable time in London where, her concept of “Kitsch Kogei” came to life.

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Masumoto transforms ordinary ceramic vessels by literally merging them with other seemingly-random objects she crafts from clay. Octopus tentacles wiggle out of a jug and a daikon radish looks like it’s been stabbed through a tall pot. She even went to the trouble of beautifully decorating a large flower pot with intricate vine motifs. And it would be perfectly functional if not for the large tunnel and cars going through it.

“Whether art or craft, I want to offer work that is intensely consciousness of that category, that framework, to explore what I myself felt,” says Masumoto. You can see a lot more of her work on her website.

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3 Comments

  1. Wow I need the one with the snake!!! So cooool!

  2. I like the little cars in the tunnel!

  3. Draxo the twelfth feared galactic overlord of the ninth dimension

    July 5, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    Pity you cannot buy any

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