"Spring Bloom" by Michael Gustavson, Five-Part Raku Ceramic Wall Sculpture, Red Yellow and Blue Glaze, Contemporary California Art, Vibrant Colors

Details

Description

Five irregularly shaped ceramic slabs arranged together as a single wall piece, each one carrying a burst of vivid colour, … Read more Five irregularly shaped ceramic slabs arranged together as a single wall piece, each one carrying a burst of vivid colour, reds, yellows, blues, and whites applied with an energy that feels almost botanical. The space between the slabs is as much a part of the composition as the ceramic itself. Because each slab is fired separately, no two surfaces come out exactly the same. At 86 inches wide this piece needs a generous wall to breathe, and it rewards that scale handsomely, working beautifully in a large living room, an open-plan space, a hotel lobby, a corporate environment, or any architectural setting where you want colour and life on a grand scale.

Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who builds upon the traditional Japanese process of raku, reimagining it through a distinctly contemporary and highly personal methodology. His work bridges free-form organic sculpture and painterly abstraction, distinguished by unusually vivid, luminous color rarely achieved in ceramic sculpture. Central to his practice is a firing approach developed and refined over decades, introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create a reduction atmosphere while pieces remain inside the kiln. This highly individual studio-developed method allows him to work at significant scale and achieve exceptional chromatic depth and painterly nuance. Describing himself as a painter-sculptor, he treats each form as a three-dimensional canvas built through layered glazes, textures, and color interactions. Inspired by Miro, Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Pollock, his surfaces often feature controlled dripping and expressive movement, translating the energy of abstract painting into fired clay. Gustavson earned his MFA from San Jose State University in 1980. His work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum, Eastman Kodak, the Bel-Air Hotel, ANA Hotel Tokyo, and private collectors including Goldie Hawn and Dr. Linus Pauling. See less