Unglazed porcelain sculpture.

Kyoko Hori is a Japanese ceramic artist whose work explores an intimate dialogue between the artist and clay. Her sculpture That Night, Water Room, dated 1995, measures 31.5 cm high, 52 cm wide and 26 cm deep.

The work belongs to a body of sculptures in which Hori explores the physical relationship between maker and material, a process she describes in terms of “physicalisation”. The coiled construction preserves the trace of the hand and gives the porcelain an organic, almost bodily presence.

The sculpture is characterised by fluid yet fractured forms. Curving sections, irregular edges and openings evoke shells, eroded structures or fragments shaped by water. The whiteness of the unglazed porcelain accentuates both the volume and the apparent fragility of the work.

The title That Night, Water Room reinforces the work’s association with water, transformation and memory. Its forms appear caught between growth and erosion, giving the sculpture an ambiguous presence that is simultaneously mineral and organic.

Hori’s practice also reflects her interest in the long evolutionary history of living forms. In this work, that concern is expressed through structures that seem at once anatomical, geological and marine.

Dimensions: H. 31.5 × W. 52 × D. 26 cm.
Original box.