Mukuhara Kashun Tsuchinohana Yunomi

I can not remember how many years ago it was that a Tsuchinohana Yunomi from Mukuhara Kashun first caught my eye.  Well needless to say, that one was bought before I could save up the money, and I have been watching them in anticipation ever since, finally for my 25th birthday decided to purchase one.   I was asked by someone what caught my eye about this style of piece, and it is something that I struggle to put into words.  I could do it in one word, heavily weighted with a multitude of different meanings all buried within.  So in one word: impermanence.

Maybe it is the fact that it looks ancient when brand new, looks like one good wind storm or a down poor of rain will cause it to crumble away.  Something that is almost the antithesis of flashy, in the sense that you would far more expect to see this cup in a little cave, or hermits hovel, as opposed to a palace, or mansion.   While it really is not frail ( though I haven't fully tested that, and I do not intend to any time soon)  the appearance is somewhat endearing.



As to the actual details of the piece, incredibly light weight, with a smooth but bumpy texture, from the very sandy clay.   As pictured above it has a lovely kiln/glaze effect up one side of the piece, which really highlights all the sand in the clay body.  The foot looks a bit small  but is nicely carved.  Though Mukuhara kashuns chop is so small and such an irregular shape I often have a very hard time discerning it from the standard bumps and cracks in some of his more coarse clay bodies.



The most interesting aspect about this yunomi is how it appears to be riddled with all sorts of very veyr tiny cracks, some large and clearly going through the glaze, and others very very small, and completely covered by the outer glaze,or are perhaps just slight fissures in the outer glaze, revealing the underglaze, but it really gives a very dry and cracked earth appearance to the piece.

Shibuya Eiichi Yunomi Video

I shot another video showing off some more of my teaware so you can get a bit of how the piece looks like in sizing, and when it is moving about.  Shibuya Eiichi is a real up an coming Hagi Artist and is the grandson of Shibuya Deishi another Hagi potter whose work I really admire, and use on a regular basis.  

Its rather funny as for the longest time every single Shibuya Eiichi piece I saw had a white glaze on the piece. The Kohiku Yunomi is in the first run of pieces I have seen from Eiichi which was not glazed in white, though it looks like a rather classic Hagi glaze, though it does not seem to be crackling and staining like most Hagi glazes.

Seigan Tebineri Wans

This is a piece I have had for quite some time now, it is a massive Yunomi/ wan, but so incredibly enjoyable.  It is tebineri ( pinchwork), and in the Sansai glaze.  I am a huge fan of pinchwork pieces as they are wonderful to feel and hold close in your hands.  Even better is the Sansai glaze is mostly white in color wonderfully showing of the color of the tea.




As you can see the glaze has some rather cool patterns.  I actually think this Sansai wan is much better than my similar Blue pinchwork one, as it always has driven me crazy how incredibly wonky the top of my Blue Pinchwork wan shown below.

The glazing in the blue wan is mesmerizing and the sizing is much better for sencha, though it is still a massive cup.   But it is always good to know that if I ever need a travel matcha set up I can take the Sansai wan and go!

Now On Youtube!

First and foremost I want to apologize for the somewhat sketchy quality of these videos, I will work on improving them, and also test various lighting conditions.  But I am launching a series of You tube videos featuring ceramics, and hopefully feature me brewing various types of tea showing off brewing styles and practices.

My first two are up, and they feature some nice Hagi Yaki pottery.  First up is the Kaneta Masanao Yunomi.  Now you can see how It looks in motion.

Second up is my family of Shibuya Deishi Wans! ( Chawan down to Yunomi).

Kaneta Masanao Yunomi

In almost any area, once you have done enough reading, browsing, research, etc. you find people who you deeply respect their work.  Kaneta Masanao is one such ceramic artist for myself.  While Hagi-yaki was my first love so to speak in terms of ceramic styles, it is only fitting that one of the artists I had most lusted over is an well respected Hagi artist.

In a way not often done in these traditional pottery styles, Kaneta Masanao seems to be breaking into new frontiers in Hagi.  His forms are often fresh and unique, and his glazing impeccable.  I have often felt his pieces are usable sculptures ( which some will argue is a requirement for all great works of ceramics, especially Chawans). 




This yunomi shows off the things I love most from his work. Wonderfully carved, in a fashion that toes the line between carefree and masterfully thought out.  Even better it shows off the wonderful blush yohen effects from the kiln fire.



Such a wonderful cup, and greatly sized.  Though my hands are still trying to find exactly how to hold this cup very naturally.  My hand fits on it in many ways, and it not that noticeable when the cup is warm, but when the cup was cold when I pulled it out of the box this morning, it just felt so awkward in my hand.

This would make a great piece for a personal "Museum Collection."

Deishi Hagi Chawan

 

 I really wanted to title this post "My First Hagi Chawan" or "My First High Quality Chawan" but both would be wrong, but somehow this chawan sticks in my mind that way, perhaps because I finally got a chawan in the style of one of the very first Hagi chawans I first lusted over.  It is a bowl in the style that my friend likes to call the "Frosted Gingerbread cookie" pottery.  

First and foremost I think I need to remark on how big this chawan is, and quite a few artisans are known for huge chawans, some of which I think border on impractical to use, but I started out using chawans on the smaller side of the spectrum.  To give an idea of the scale, I have two other Deishi pieces in a similar glaze, of various sizes. 

I have a third photo like the second one but taken more from the side.  But all that really shows is that even when they are nested like that, the rims of all the pieces are all level, if not the inner two lie below the chawan lid.  But to give an idea of sizes, the smallest piece, a guinomi, holds about 60ml or 2 oz, while the medium sized piece is a nice sized cup for tea holding 7-8 ounces easily.  As you can tell these fit inside quite easily with a  bit of room to share for the chawan.  I never measured the volume of the chawan, as it really doesn't matter, as when using it you never make use of the entire volume of the chawan.

This piece does have its flaws. for one I find it almost uncomfortable to drink out of, as the rim seems to thick and blocky, with almost squared off edges, as opposed to a smoother and gentler rounded edge. It is slightly heavy, but I almost find that comforting, but I am a rather large person myself, and I tend to go with larger ceramics pieces to match my own size.

Wonderful ingenuity

Shibuya Eiichi, the grandson of a known Hagi Artist Shibuya Deishi, is certainly making splashes in certain circles namely those on Teachat which possibly houses the largest collection of Hagi Yaki lovers in the West. It is pieces like his Rocks that honestly show why. While I had always found the rocks visually stunning, I had held off purchasing one on beliefs that it might be a bit more of a show piece than an actual functional piece.

Let me assure you those fears were ill placed, although I will warn that the rocks are not very hot water friendly. They are easily usable with the temperatures necessary for Green tea, but I hear they are quite the finger burner when used with near boiling water.

This piece came from a Teachat Super Special Offer, and was piece number 1 from that offering (not my first pick, but I was quite smitten by just about all of them). These were the first batch of rocks that were done by pinch work (tebineri), and I would have to go back and look at pictures but this one gives a distinctive chamfered look to it, with slightly extra build up to give the full on rock appearance.

In full fledged High praise this might easily be in the running for one of my favorite teacups, in stiff competition with some wonderful pieces, but it clearly holds its own.

Seigan Ao Tebineri Kyusu

Of all the pieces I have acquired this might be the one I am least happy with overall. I say that because it is almost unusable for its intended purpose. That being said amazing things happen on this piece in terms of glaze, and it is a pinch work piece, and I tend to favor the amazing textures of pinch work pieces. So in detail what are my problems with this piece?

Sadly all the problems are near impossible to see from the photos. The first of all being its Gargantuan size in terms of kyusu's. I mean I have a penchant for large kyusu's but this one is holds roughly 20 oz or more.

Second is the filter has incredibly large holes even for a Hagi Kyusu, and I often joke that when I use this kyusu I am having a salad with my tea (and I only brew Asamushi in this kyusu). Besides that possibly due to the fact that it is in the first few of a new style of Kyusu he was creating, but the spout is poorly formed and dribbles down the front unless I turn it so the spout is practically vertical.

Not to mention in my opinion the inside glazing looks incredibly sloppy, and almost unfinished or so in parts. To me it seems almost a bit sloppy in its overall presentation and usability. So for the most part this stays mostly on the shelf, which while it is not so bad to look at, I really wish I could use it more often.

The Piece Dubbed Frosting

So the piece posted last week, and the piece from this week have been relegated to office duty, and I only got around to photographing them because I took them home for cleaning. And I do not know what it is but the fact that they are now home and once again sparkling and clean, I have a renewed fondness for them.

This piece is fascinating in many ways. One is in part why it is dubbed frosting, it has an incredibly thick white glaze spread over it, and it undulates in such a way that it looks like frosting hastily applied to the cup. Especially since in a few area's the clay underneath shows through. That is not all this extra thick glaze, seems to do wonders for how it progresses through the seven stages of Hagi.

Any time I have seen cracks in a glaze on a piece, they are usually rather fine, so perhaps it makes it hard to see, but typically a crack runs into another crack, forming T's or X's, though this piece has cracks that run through a piece and dead end as pictured below.

Though the more this piece is used the better appeal it seems to have. The uniqueness that there are large patches of glaze practically untouched by the staining and the crazing. But the staining appearing on the outside seems oh so welcoming as seen by the first picture. I will be watching this piece develop with much hope, and is the piece I think of when I consider how extra rough clay Hagi pieces (Oni-Hagi) can produce some incredibly interesting effects.

Ice Split

A glaze that is quite unique, although I am not entirely sure if it was just adapted for Hagi by Yamane Seigan, or if this glaze is uniquely his creation. This piece is the only Ice split piece I have, and I love it and hate it for the same reason. That is that this piece while techinically an ice split does not really showcase the desired effect in the glazes used to create an Ice Split. The desired effect is to look like white sheets of ice splitting and breaking up over a nice blue sea.

But why I love this piece is because it is so far from the established norm for Ice Splits, with an almost speckled pattern on the sides, and anywhere there is a fissure on the white glaze applied over the piece, it usually opens up to blackness as opposed to a deep blue. In fact the only hints of the blue glaze underneath the white occurs at the very bottom as seen in the picture above.

A note on my thoughts about Ice Splits, while they appear to be to be incredibly stunning, I am hesitant to believe that they will show some of the charm Hagi develops over time. That is because I think so many glazes go into creating an Ice Split, that it is likely that the tea will have a very hard time progressing through the whole piece to eventually stain the outside. While I hope to be proven wrong, I partially believe that because even just looking at the staining on the inside of the piece, it looks like the stain only is superficially in the glaze. By that I mean the stain only appears to actually be in the outermost glaze, and that it has not progressed any deeper.

Growing Fondness

Looking back I am still unsure what prompted me to buy this piece, it was acquired in my spending spree on teaware shortly after I started acquiring my first pieces of artisan teaware and I was hooked. But while this piece has never quite been my favorite, I did continue to use it somewhat regularly, and when it started to change it took on a whole new life in my eyes.

The pale tan/pink of the outside is just now starting to not look pristine, and the piece now is darkening on the outside similar to that pictured above on the inside. It gives the piece an amazing depth that it never quite had before. The glaze of this piece is I believe either a Biwa, or a Loquat glaze, although I am not sure if those two are synonymous. I know these pieces are called Biwa wans, by the Artist Deishi, and the glaze is similar to a Loquat, although each artists look slightly different.

Ikkuo Chawan

While my teaware collection is of not modest size, I do at times feel there is one big gap in my collection. That is when it comes to my chawan, tea bowls are often one of the priciest pieces of teaware a Ceramics Collector, and drinker of Japanese Greens might ever acquire. That I feel is largely due to the Japanese tea ceremony focusing on preparing matcha, and often viewed as a way to "show off" excluding the possibility of showing off in terms of the setting, the main focus of the ceremony is the chawan. Show off is not the right word, but it is supposed to both complement the season and the aesthetic created in the room, and make good tea. But needless to say chawan that are visually stunning often are priced far above what would be expected if it were just to be labeled a bowl. The oddest part is in my understanding the early tea ceremony's used rather modest teaware, and in the place of the Chawan was actually a rice bowl shaped similarly to some of today's chawan.

From Matcha

So I present to you my "most stunning chawan" which in all honesty is not all that stunning, slightly impractical to use, and its focal feature is actually one that is growing on my nerves, in general pieces like this get on my nerves. I call it the "forced wabi sabi" mark, which when you look at many pieces of teaware and pottery of various styles, you occasionally see something like this, where the artist had intentionality dented the piece. When this is done it is usually in one place, so it is not forming pattern or shape, and the only feasible explanation for it could be to help someone grip the piece, but with my large hands that is never really needed, so I view it as an attempt for the artist to force an imperfection into the piece, hence "forced wabi sabi."

Another one of its annoying features, is whisking in it can be incredibly hard I do not know if it is the extra tall sides, or more likely I feel the diameter of the piece is just slightly too small. That and its dimensions look slightly off when viewing it, as it is slightly taller than it is wide, which looks unnatural to me when thinking of Chawan.

The Staining of Hagi

Granted I have only been collecting Hagi Yaki for a little over a year now, but in that time I have learned that each piece has a personality uniquely its own. Now there are many ways a piece can have personality, but the personality I am directly referring to in this post is how it changes through use. Like people there are people that look prematurely old, and then there are those that seem like the have the secret of youth.

One thing I will say the lighter the color of the glaze the more quickly it seems to show signs of use, and Seigan Blues are notoriously stain resistant. Case and point, the piece pictured below has been used likely over 50 times, and is probably getting rather close to 100 uses, although it hardly looks different than when it first arrived.

Whereas within far fewer uses, one of my quickest staining pieces inside looked like this.

Which now the inside is much more evenly stained, and the outside nearly matches although is slightly lighter.

Though the type of piece also seems to alter how staining occurs, it seems most Kyusu's and Hohin, are made in such a way that staining progresses much slower, although sometimes things happen in rather curious ways. Such as seen in this picture.

The staining starting occur in certain areas of this hohin are rather amazing, as it is started above most water levels, and the opposite side of the spout. My only guess is, as I tend to treat hohins more like Chinese teapots, often filling them rather close to the rim, that the exposed clay rim in that area on the back of the piece is slightly more porous, and has absorbed water and tea and, tried to expel it through the glaze on the outside causing those stains.

While I have a decent feel as to how quickly the inside of a piece can start to stain, usually dependent on the type of glaze, color of glaze, and thickness of glaze. The outside is a major toss up, seemingly more reliant on the how the piece was made. I do not know a lot about what goes into firing temperatures and how it alters the clay body, nor do I know if a two seemingly identical pieces can be radically different due to its production. Such as for some of the artists who read this, could a clay body possibly be made more dense, by squeezing harder in a pinch-work or thrown piece?

Shark Skin Glaze, Kairagi

Perhaps my favorite Hagi glaze is Kairagi or Shark Skin, which as far as I understand is so named because it was said to resemble the sharkskin placed over the handles of Samurai's swords. But the characteristic appearance of a Kairagi glaze is a white straw ash appearance glaze with lots of exposed clay underneath with the glaze crawling at many unique angles.

This hohin (hobin ) is one such glazed item, while the Yunomi pictured below is a second. Both of which are by the artist Mukuhara Kashun.

These are the only two Mukuhara Kashun pieces I currently have, but I am loving them every chance I get. Although I will say I have only seen this glaze done by one other artist and Kashun is by far the better of the two in terms of execution of this glaze. The most amazing thing about him pulling off this glaze while Hagi is known for showing off use through staining, even these pieces in pristine condition show stains in the wrinkles in the glaze.

"Museum" Collection

So while I run the site The Hagi Project, which catalogs my ceramics collection of Asian influence. I have long since thought about creating a collection of pieces which I would not use, and when I have the means, display it in an interesting fashion in a noticeable location. This has lead to me doing quite a bit of window shopping through many galleries trying to decide what may be collection worthy for my "Museum Gallery."

It has lead me to realize that there are no hidden deals in Japanese Ceramics, and especially by the means available to someone who probably will not travel to Japan for some time. So that being said I recently acquired two pieces that upon open I was so incredibly taken with them that I thought of starting a museum collection with these two pieces.

This post is a bit of a musing on why I am not sure either piece will be put into such a collection, after staring at the pieces for quite some time in spare time or when I needed a bit of a break in my studies. I will say that I find ceramics so incredibly calming, and wonderful to admire that they often make for a great 5-10 minute study break to examine the pieces.

First off is a Hagi Guinomi, bought under the initial impression of using it for Gyokuro. It is a Straw Ash Glaze ( Shira), and even though I've held the piece in person, it was not until a lot of people looked at the photo and commented on blue, only to have me try and explain reasons why it appears blue such as a sunny day with nice blue sky, a blue curtain located near by, and I do not know if it was power of suggestion, or if it has some special character that really makes it look blue in slightly diffused lighting. I am thinking of trying to create a Light box to take pictures at a closer to Studio Quality.

Upon its arrival I was incredibly taken with this piece, but the more and more it dawned on me, there is a very specific reason why that side of the cup is facing forward in the photo. While the rest of the cup is by no means bad in terms of glaze effects, I would have to the other three quarters of this piece has glazing which is just average in terms of appearance and effects for the artist Deishi Shibuya. But this quarter of the piece, it is exceptional the play between the brown clay body and its incredibly rough texture in stark contrast to smooth but lumpy white glaze, in a nearly random pattern gives a truly wonderful effect on the piece.

So the more I thought about it the more I realized that should I create such a collection after a few years of acquiring pieces whether they be for use or such a "museum collection" eventually I would arrive at the realization that this piece is not that special, as 1/4 is a far way from completely, though I will say that the shape and clay work to make the body are also good to great, maybe not exceptional but certainly above average compared to the other pieces of his that I have.

This piece is incredibly stunning, and it is the first time I have ever seen such an oilspot effect based on a white glaze. This piece was acquired for use with Chinese Teas, though it is actually a Sakazuki which is a flatter shaped cup for drinking Sake.

This one I am still slightly in the air about but my current reservations revolve around the fact that while this is a stunning glaze, and wonderfully formed ( seemingly almost to perfection) with actually a wonderfully tactile clay body, I realized that every time I pick up this Sakazuki to examine, I spend less than a minute examining the clay exposed in the foot, and basically the rest of the time staring into the bowl of the cup. Which while it is a stunning glaze runs into the problem of actually becoming boring after less than 5 minutes of looking it over, and seemingly shorter and shorter times subsequently.

For example look over this picture and while it is stunning at a glance, you will realize you tire of it somewhat quickly.

And the glaze on the outside of the sakazuki is a standard white glaze that I have had little motivation to study again after the first two or three times looking over the piece.

The more I think about it, especially after writing this up, I am almost certain I will put it into use, and therefore not have it be part of a theoretical "museum collection."

A piece that makes me go Hmmm

I am sure every collector of something has one item they are not entirely sure is genuine, or that is so unique they have never really seen anything like it. Well this piece is both at once.

The box it came in does not concern me at all, as it all looks rather legitimate, what concerns me is seen in the picture. Somehow the center of the foot of this piece is glazed, the place where the artists stamp occurs. So while I can see a place where I think the stamp is, there is no way to really make out the artists stamp on the piece itself.

While the clay looks like something Seigan can easily have done, and the glaze is the Sansai glaze, one of the glazes he is known for. I have recently found out that you can go into certain ceramics stores in Japan and buy premixed glazes that are basically identical to famous glazes. Though a bit of reassurance is inside Japan, Seigan is honestly not famous enough to draw much of this sort of forgery.

So while I am always open to the fact that this piece may not actually be his, I am pretty sure it probably is, but that brings up the fact that this piece is so incredibly unique in other regards.

Notice the square foot. I have never seen Seigan or any other Hagi artist produce a square foot like that.

Hagi Teacups of various styles.

Looking at all my Hagi teacups that are actually able to be used for tea with ease. Two of these are Special offer so I can not say how readily similar styles are available outside Teachat Special offers, I will comment on where I have seen similar styles/ if I have seen similar styles.

From Hagi yaki

This is a classic style Yunomi by Mukuhara Kashun, and these are available in a vareity of sizes. I have seen some that are absolutely huge, and some that are about half the size of this. I think this qualifies as a medium sized Yunomi and it holds probably about 8 oz to the rim and a little more than 6 comfortably.

From Hagi yaki

This was a Special offer at Teachat, and I honestly have not seen many teacups quite like this, it holds about 3 or 4 ounces making them a small teacup, but its so wide on top and is such an open bowl that it lets tea and water cool quite quickly. There are several slightly smaller Guinomi's (sake cups) in a similar style but they usually have steeper sides. But in terms of tea cups, quite a few non Hagi artists most notably American Artists have cups somewhat similar, though not as wide of a bowl.

From Hagi yaki

This is billed as a wan, and these can come in several different variations, but these are rather standard and are a good all season cup. But at this point I feel I have acquired too many basic style wans. And while each is unique they are usually a bit on the plain side.

From Hagi yaki

These Tebineri (Pinch Work) Wans are almost hybrids between Classic Yunomi's and wans as all of them I have seen are a bit taller than wans but nearly as wide. I have seen a few of pinch work cups somewhat similar than these on zencha.net by one of the Choun's who are known for pinch work pieces.

Pristine or used?

Sen No Rikyu is quoted as saying "The value of a piece of teaware depends on its ability to make good tea." That being said, I feel there is a large emphasis in Western cultures put on having pristine looking ceramics among many other things. While of course I want to eat from clean plates and drink from clean glasses, I am comforted when something shows its use.

From Seven Stages of Hagi

Hagi yaki, and Korean ceramics are quite well known for the effect pictured above. When I see something like that, I personally feel "this cup has experienced tea as I have experienced it, and has stories to tell." I almost feel like the cup is an allegory for experience, this cup remembers a little bit each sip taken from it, it shows its been through quite a bit.

In contrast to pristine teaware, such as constantly washed and scrubbed porcelain. While they to might have stories to tell, I feel like when they get thoroughly cleaned, it is almost as if their memories are being completely wiped clean.

Granted a clean piece of ceramic can still look great, and show the care the creator put into its creation.

From Hagi yaki

But after extensive use, it develops in my mind so much more character.

From Seven Stages of Hagi

Again this is all personal preference, but I love my heavily used looking pieces.

Favorite piece of teaware

This is a post taken from my Tea Blog The Sip Tip for a Tea Blog Carnival post. I feel the discussion I went through in this post really fits in with the purpose of this blog.

"What is your favorite piece of teaware and why?"

A rather unsatisfactory answer, but rather true is, the latest Teaware acquired. As it is newest thing in your collection you are enamored with it, and you find its quirks appealing rather than trouble some. So as of writing this first part on April 17th. My latest piece of teaware acquired is Zhu Ni Yixing tea pot, which has been featured in this post.

But lets face it, I have a site The Hagi Project in which I mainly catalog my Hagi Yaki collection. So I would be lying if I said that my "favorite child" is not a piece of Hagi yaki. I hate to say that around my Yixing, or Lins Kettle, but the way Hagi change and feel. The fact that they seem to be border line alive.

The Hardest question is: Which Hagi piece is my favorite?

This is hard, as I really like Tebineri (pinch work) pieces, and Oni-hagi pieces. Oni-hagi is extra coarse clay, often with large noticeable, pieces of sand.

Tebineri pieces feel amazing in hand, and due to the pinch work nature, they tend to be a bit more unique and different than typical hand made pottery pieces. I know all hand made ceramics are unique, but the fact that masters artists can make hundreds of pieces that look rather similar, when using a pottery wheel. It seems when pinch work is done the piece is more organic in nature. While the pieces will look similar, when examining them with your hand you get to know and feel the soul of the piece.

I like Oni-hagi pieces for reasons that are much harder to explain. Sometimes Oni-hagi clay can cause interesting effects to occur in the glaze. That and the fact that it seems to make the piece more likely to leak/weep, makes the piece feel live.

That being said, what is my favorite piece of Hagi-yaki? From what I said it seems a pinch work Oni-hagi piece would be ideal, but I do not know if I have ever seen one of those, it seems that combination is just not done.

So my favorite piece of teaware is my Noutomi Choun Hohin. Though sadly it is the hardest to actually capture its true essence in a photograph. But it feels absolutely amazing in hand, to match. This piece also looks rather alien in its appearance.

The start of it all, Seigan Oni Hagi.

One thing I will probably reference quite a bit on this blog is the great Teachat Special offers which start with Hagi Yaki, but since have broadened their gaze to the Teaware artisans that contribute to the board.

Sadly I did not jump in on the Special offers until the 8th one, which happened to be these small yunomi's. The taper on these are rather extreme, but they are made with extra rough sand. The term for Hagi yaki using this extra rough sand is "Oni-hagi" which I have heard various translations, but its a Demon, or Ogre or Troll hagi, basically it means its a bit rough, and borderline unrefined. That being said I have seen Oni-hagi of many types from loaded with large grains of sand, to clay that feels rough, but its outward appearance is rather refined.

The artist of this piece is Yamane Seigan, who is both a Martial Artist and a semi famous artist. I say semi famous as he is well known at least in the West, but his work does not warrant the hefty price tags that certain other artists works do.