José Cobos translates the body into acoustic architecture — flutes, drums and masks that complete themselves only when sounded. A practice rooted in the pre-Hispanic ceramic aerophones of Ecuador, reforged today at the Imperial Kilns of Jingdezhen.
Featured · 2025
José Cobos with sonic jaguar mask
Index · Current series
Eight pieces selected from the active studio — sonic sculptures, ritual masks and collaborative figures. Each work is built to be sounded.
Mind & Moon
globular flute
Bell Drum Head
tongue drum
Imperial Loong
dragon stoneware
Tigremorfosis
polyglobular flute
Boa Rosa
circular flute
Sonic Mask
pre-hispanic aerophone
Tudi Mio
Pink Mindset & Lemon Ears
Tupac Nuna
black saggar cats
Index 01 · Available work
Nine pieces currently available for acquisition or exhibition. Full documentation provided on request.
All available pieces
Sonic Sculpture / Low Tune Globular Flute
A study of the cyclical relationship between the celestial and the somatic. Just as the moon governs the Earth's water bodies, it exerts a silent pull on our internal tides. These pieces operate under the alchemical principle of correspondence: As above, so below — the macrocosm reflected in the microcosm.
Price
$1,900 USD
¥13,103
Index 02 · Collaboration · 2026
A work by Lora Nestorova & José Cobos
A surrealist Cadavre Exquis for ceramic — built blind, head to legs, between Bulgaria and Ecuador.
A sculptural dialogue between Bulgarian artist Lora Nestorova and Ecuadorian artist José Cobos. The project adapts the Surrealist Cadavre Exquis — each sculpture is built blind in three sections (Head · Torso · Legs), responding only to limited visual cues left at the joints. The method bypasses rational design in favour of spontaneous, hybrid outcomes — a hidden circus of the mind made tangible.
January 2026
An exploration of inner stillness and purity.
45×50×30 cm
January 2026
The state of being careless and unburdened.
43×45.5×48 cm
January 2026
The anatomy of anger.
52×67×36 cm
January 2026
The paralysis and physical breakdown of stress.
24.5×74×34 cm
Index 03 · About
José Cobos is an Ecuadorian ceramic artist whose practice repositions the human body as a complex acoustic structure — a system of resonance and symbolic exchange. The investigation is rooted in pre-Hispanic ceramic aerophones from Ecuador (500 B.C. — 500 A.D.), where sound chambers were integrated into specific anatomical zones.
From Cuenca, Ecuador to a residency at Jingdezhen Ceramic University, the work is fired in chamotte stoneware and saggar clay at 1220–1260 °C, often at the historic Imperial Kilns of Taoyangli.
Across flutes, ocarinas, tongue drums, ritual masks and the collaborative Pink Mindset & Lemon Ears series with Lora Nestorova, the studio bridges ancient esoteric tradition and contemporary inquiry into ritual, identity and the sonic landscape of the mind.
Bio-resonance
Internal resonators placed at key somatic points — cranial cavity, joints — to build a vibrational map of the human anatomy.
Architecture
The body as a system of resonance and symbolic exchange; ceramic as a bridge between material science and physiological experience.
Ritual
Static objects activated by breath, touch and ceremony — the gallery becomes a site of communion, not display.
Index 04 · The three masks
Three ceremonial sonic masks — Owl, Jaguar, Frog. Each one a breath chamber tuned to a specific vibrational range. Worn, they don't cover the face — they replace it with a different listening.
Sonic Mask · Crown resonance
Round and silent like a full moon, the owl mask carries scalloped feathers carved in sgraffito and three vertical eyes — a guardian of the night that listens before it sees. The piece was activated in a full ritual cycle: feather garment, candle-smoke, a wooden stool, and the slow displacement of the artist's body by the bird-spirit.
Enter the mask
Sonic Mask · Earth resonance
A ceremonial sonic mask of the jaguar — predator-spirit of the Andean and Amazonian cosmologies. The whiskers are individual ceramic filaments that extend beyond the body to mark the radius of the felid's perception. Worn high or held low, the mask shifts the wearer's relationship to space: from gaze to ambush.
Enter the mask
Sonic Mask · Water resonance
Worn during an aquatic ritual, the frog mask transforms breath into water-song. The internal chamber resonates submerged — the body becomes amphibian, the voice becomes croak.
Enter the maskIndex 05 · Journal & research
Inquiries · Performances · Collaborations
For acquisitions, exhibition proposals, performance invitations, residencies or workshop bookings — write directly to the studio.
