# Delightful Day - Triptych

Three irregularly shaped slabs carrying one of the most vivid palettes in the wall relief collection. The upper slab moves through white, teal, red, and gold in overlapping forms with Cubist confidence. The lower left is warmer and more circular, orange and teal moving through it with genuine joy. The right slab is the most graphic, bold orange, deep navy, and crackled yellow in clean decisive sections. Gustavson's raku process fires each slab separately, the reduction atmosphere resolving the glazes a little differently across all three. One of the most celebratory works in the collection.

[Browse all works by Michael Gustavson](/collections/michael-gustavson)

## Details

- **Price:** 7400.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Art Scout
- **Type:** Ceramic Sculpture
- **Tags:** buy original art online, California artist, ceramic sculpture, collector art, Michael Gustavson, original sculpture, raku, triptych, wall relief

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 7400.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Delightful Day Triptych – three irregularly shaped studio raku ceramic slabs by Gustavson in vivid white, teal, red, gold, orange, navy, and crackled yellow, each slab fired separately with Cubist confidence in one of the most celebratory works in the collection
- Delightful Day Triptych by Gustavson – detail of upper slab with white, teal, red, and gold overlapping Cubist forms in vivid wall relief ceramic
- Delightful Day Triptych by Gustavson – full three-slab installation in bold vivid palette with graphic right slab in orange, navy, and crackled yellow
- Delightful Day Triptych by Gustavson – close-up of warm circular lower left slab in orange and teal moving with genuine joy in raku wall relief
- Delightful Day Triptych by Gustavson – triptych installed in room showing celebratory vivid presence of all three separately fired raku slabs
- Delightful Day - Triptych

## Additional Information

- **Dimensions:** 58"×50"×1.5"
- **Artist Material:** Raku-fired glazed ceramic
- **Artist Name:** Michael Gustavson
- **About The Artist Link:** https://www.artscout.pro/collections/michael-gustavson

### About The Artist Content

Michael Gustavson is a California-based ceramic artist who builds upon the traditional Japanese process of raku, reimagining it through a distinctly contemporary and highly personal methodology. His work bridges free-form organic sculpture and painterly abstraction, distinguished by unusually vivid, luminous color rarely achieved in ceramic sculpture.

Central to Gustavson’s practice is a firing approach he has developed and refined over decades, evolving from but ultimately departing from traditional raku. Rather than removing works from the kiln, he introduces pine needles at lower temperatures to create the reduction atmosphere while the pieces remain inside. This highly individual, studio-developed method allows him to work at significant scale and achieve exceptional chromatic depth and painterly nuance in glazed ceramic. Few ceramic artists pursue color with this level of painterly ambition.

Over a four-decade career, Gustavson has pushed the expressive potential of clay, developing a controlled yet highly responsive surface language. Describing himself as a painter-sculptor, he treats each form as a three-dimensional canvas built through layered glazes, textures, and color interactions. His vessels often suggest the human figure in motion, while his wall reliefs activate negative space as an integral compositional force. Large-scale outdoor sculptures and benches extend this painterly vision into powerful tectonic forms.

Inspired by Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and Jackson Pollock, Gustavson’s surfaces often feature controlled dripping and expressive movement, translating the energy of abstract painting into fired clay.

Gustavson earned his MFA from San José State University in 1980. His work is held in major public and private collections worldwide, including IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Seagate, Cranbrook Museum, and Eastman Kodak.

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> Source: [Art Scout](https://www.artscout.pro/products/delightful-day-triptych)
> Updated: 2026-08-28