Pottery for me is a silent spiritual journey, a creative discipline, a flamboyant celebration, a passionate love affair to revel in forever!

As a child, I could have never imagined being a potter. Art was not considered to be a career option that could earn a living – and pottery as a medium made it even more difficult. Although I was encouraged to explore my creativity, focused formal education was always top priority.

Initially, my perception of ‘challenge’ for a potter was to make a vessel comfortable to use – a bowl to eat out of, a cup to drink from and a tea pot that pours well. This philosophy of making pottery has been highly influenced by the traditional Indian concept - to produce pots that have a function. I did not consider a pot "finished" when it emerged from the kiln, but only when it has been christened with a first delicious mouthful. I mostly made wheel thrown high fired utilitarian pots.

Gradually, as I focused more on the form and character of the pot, utility and function took a back seat. My pots, though still vessels, became more sculptural: objects that take the viewer back to the important values which first gave birth to the work – that of beauty and aesthetics of the form. My inspiration is nature and I like to “reinvent”things from nature in my own visual language. Many of my current works, though still vessels (something that can hold), transcend their purely functional roots in favor of a visual and tactile language that has developed out of my observations and experience.

I like to balance between wheel throwing and slab construction. Developing these two methods simultaneously allows a fresh creative approach, which promotes exhibiting the contrast of the medium – wheel thrown pots representing symmetry, rigidity, and hand built components showing the organic, fluid nature of the clay. I also attempt to convey the qualities of clay by allowing the form to speak of its existence through the evidence of artist and medium in collaboration. In doing so, marks of the hand are intentionally left to remind the viewer of the process of making the pot.

My works celebrate the journey so far. It is a contained outpour of passionate creativity that chooses to communicate through clay.

Rahul Kumar