Ellipsoidal Brain Teapot, Nuclear Winter, from the series Yixing

25 June 1993, sold by Garth Clark Gallery (New York, NY) to Stephen and Pamela Hootkin (New York, NY); 21 August 2014, deposited on long-term loan to the Chazen Museum of Art; 19 May 2017, gifted to the Chazen Museum of Art

• Chazen Museum of Art. "The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection." exh. cat. Madison: Chazen Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 106-107
• Failing, Patricia. "Northwest Clay Symposium." American Craft, vol. 54, no. 1 (Feb. / Mar. 1994): 39-43, 65. pp. 40-41

• Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection, The: Chazen Museum of Art, 9/5/2014–11/30/2014

The squat, round body of this ceramic teapot is a textured, light blue organic form resembling the surface of a brain, complete with intricate folds and fissures. The teapot’s handle appears tube-like, suggesting an oversized artery, rising up from the brain and arching gracefully over the teapot before tapering to a blunt spout on the opposite side. The lid of the teapot, nestled in a shallow depression within the "brain," is painted with a black and white chessboard. Miniature chess pieces in brown and cream are arranged on the board around a small beige nuclear mushroom cloud, which serves as the handle of the teapot’s lid.

• North America
• Sculpture
• Ceramics
• Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection
• Alt Text Accessible

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