{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O129109"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O129109/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT8245/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT8245/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT8245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O129109","accessionNumber":"FE.563-1992","objectType":"Sculpture","titles":[{"title":"Geological Age V","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Akiyama Yo (1953-) is widely recognised as one of the leading Japanese ceramists of his generation. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts, where he now teaches, and specialises in the use of 'Black Fire' ('kokuto' in Japanese, lit.'black ceramics'), a technique pioneered by his teacher Yagi Kazuo (1918-1979). 'Black Fire' involves burning large amounts of carbonising material in an earthenware firing to achieve an intense blackness which, for Yagi and his successors, has been a means to avoid the potentially obfuscating effects of glazes and also the structural movements and colour changes that tend to occur with high-temperature firings.\r\n\r\nThis massive semi-circular sculpture borders on the limit of what can be wielded in a kiln. It belongs to a period when Akiyama was experimenting with the use of a blow-torch to cause unfired clay to split and fissure in a manner reminiscent, as the title of work (Geological Age V) suggests, of the earth's crust.\r\n\r\nTo create this work Akiyama began by preparing a series of rings of different thicknesses and diameters. These were then blow-torched and the broken sections of each ring reversed so that the inner surface appeared on the outside as a series of concave curves separated by regularly spaced fissures. Reconstituted in this manner, the rings were stacked and modelled into a large, wedge-shaped form, the interior of which was then filled with two opposing cones of clay meeting at a small central hole. The precise turning of the inner surfaces contrasts with the ragged fracturing of the sculpture's exterior and gives emphasis to the work's rotational dynamism. Extensive use of burnishing adds to the drama of the form.\r\n\r\nAkiyama is reported to have described his work of this period as being about the geology of our planet - the earth's crust, clouds and the surface of the sea - and also to have spoken of his indebtedness to Joseph Beuy's philosophical position on the use of materials. Speaking of how essential it was for him to use clay to express his artistic vision, he stated how, 'as clay is to earth, so too is a kiln to the earth's core.'","physicalDescription":"Large semi-circular form that expands upwards and outwards from a narrow wedge-shaped base to a maximum thickness near the top, the centre consisting of two opposing cones that join as a small central hole","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Akiyama, Yo","id":"A18204"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"earthenware","id":"x29356"}],"techniques":[{"text":"unglazed","id":"x44601"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carbon-impregnated earthenware","categories":[{"text":"Earthenware","id":"THES48964"},{"text":"Studio Pottery","id":"THES48889"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"}],"styles":[{"text":"Heisei","id":"x36359"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006AT8245"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"145 (VA)","id":"THES49865"},"free":"","case":"53","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Sculpture","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Kyoto","id":"x31966"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1992","earliest":"1992-01-01","latest":"1992-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"94.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"66.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"From registered description, metric","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Sculpture, 'Geological Age V', carbon-impregnated earthenware, Japan, Kyoto, by Akiyama Yo (1953-), 1992","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Faulkner, Rupert. <i>Japanese studio crafts : tradition and the avant-garde</i>, London : Laurence King, 1995","id":"AUTH354347"},"details":"plate 32","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) <i>Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>. London: V&A Publishing, 2008","id":"AUTH354348"},"details":"pp.141","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Geological Age V\r\nJapan, Kyoto\r\n1992\r\n\r\nAkiyama Yo’s sculpture exemplifies a major strand in ceramic practice today. He uses ceramic materials to produce contemporary works of art that make little reference to potters’ traditional concerns. Here he explores the primordial nature of clay, creating an\r\narresting composition suggestive of the forms and forces of our geological past.\r\n\r\nMade by Akiyama Yo (born 1953)\r\n\r\nCarbon-impregnated earthenware, partly polished\r\n\r\nMuseum no. FE.563-1992","date":{"text":"September 2009","earliest":"2009-09-01","latest":"2009-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["FE.563-1992"],"accessionNumberNum":"563","accessionNumberPrefix":"FE","accessionYear":1992,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP0616","2019LT2083","2019LW8830","2019LV9450"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-11-09","availableToBook":false}}