A master of contemporary Japanese ceramics, Satoru Hoshino creates sculptural works that pulse with raw, elemental energy. His Spring Snow series—represented here by 'Spring Snow 11 L-1'—emerged from a profound turning point in the artist’s life: a catastrophic landslide that destroyed his studio over three decades ago. That event, both terrifying and transformative, led Hoshino to reimagine clay not simply as a material, but as a living, responsive force. “Clay,” he has said, “is a total system of life, with myself living within it.”

The present vessel belongs to an acclaimed body of work that has been exhibited internationally. Each piece is formed by stacking thick coils of clay into irregular, rhythmically layered structures—gestures that remain imprinted with the artist’s hand, preserving the kinetic energy of their making.

While often glazed in vivid blues, coppery greens, and electric oranges, Hoshino’s use of colour does not aim to replicate the appearance of the natural world. Instead, these hues are meant to evoke the deep, unconscious memories held within the clay itself—an inner vitality that predates form. Though seemingly artificial in tone, the glazes are derived from entirely natural sources such as wood or straw ash, sometimes mixed with copper, reinforcing his belief that the true expression of nature in ceramics lies not in imitation, but in intuition and transformation.