Michael Gustavson "Time Alone" Raku Ceramic, Abstract Color Block Bench Sculpture in Red, Carmel California Art, Original 33 X 19 Inches, 2025

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Two upright ends meet beneath a low arch to make this raku-fired ceramic bench sculpture by California artist Michael Gustavson, … Read more Two upright ends meet beneath a low arch to make this raku-fired ceramic bench sculpture by California artist Michael Gustavson, built from color blocks. The top is a patchwork of turquoise, scarlet, orange, saffron, navy and black rectangles, with a white crackle panel, a round white disc traced with black branching lines, and a speckled aqua end that looks like sea glass. The sides drop into deep arches, and a half-circle of yellow sits near one corner. Everything is glossy, and the edges are softened and rounded. Gustavson has said he treats his forms as a painter treats canvas, and this bench reads like a Mondrian grid that has been softened and given weight. It stands on a pair of thick, curved supports.

A bench like this fits an entry, a hallway, the foot of a bed or a window niche, and it works equally well as a low console beneath art. The strong blocks pair with white walls, black steel and natural wood, and the primary colors liven a quiet room. A pair of books, a small lamp or a single bowl is all it needs.

Raku-fired glazed ceramic, 33 x 19 x 14 in (83.8 x 48.3 x 35.6 cm).

Gustavson fires his work in raku, the traditional Japanese process, which he has adapted over decades into his own method. For his large pieces he does not lift them from the kiln into combustible material; instead they stay in the kiln while pine needles are introduced at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere. Layered glazes, crackle, drips and fine drawn lines build luminous color, and he treats every form as a three-dimensional canvas.

Michael Gustavson is a ceramic artist based in Murphys, California, who has worked in clay for more than four decades. He earned his MFA from San Jose State University in 1980 and describes himself as a painter-sculptor, treating each form as a three-dimensional canvas and glaze as his paint. His work is held in private and public collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum and Eastman Kodak.

Building on the traditional Japanese process of raku, he developed his own firing approach, leaving large pieces in the kiln and introducing pine needles at lower temperatures to create reduction. The method allows larger scale and unusually vivid color. His wheel-thrown, hand-stretched vessels suggest the figure in motion, his wall reliefs use fragmented slabs and negative space, and recent outdoor sculptures and benches carry his surfaces into tectonic forms, with nods to Miró, Kandinsky, Mondrian and Pollock. See less