Embracing for Painting （Shiseido Gallery）

Embracing for Painting

Finished

Artists

Minako Abe, Midori Sato, Manika Nagare

The three artists presenting in this exhibition—Minako Abe, Midori Sato, and Manika Nagare—are all embracing new possibilities in painting, itself one of the oldest and most tradition-steeped forms of artistic expression. Minako Abe, for example, uses a computer to add arbitrary deformations to photographs of nature scenes, then manipulates the resulting images using masking tape and rollers to recreate a new vision of the scene. Midori Sato paints with brushstrokes reminiscent of the plethora of highly colorful fashion items flooding our modern world. And Manika Nagare paints mainly scenes of people and nature, but with unique lines and colorations, as well as multiple layerings of paint, to create images that veer more towards the abstract.
Throughout history of art, painting has always been in competition with other, ever-diversifying artistic genres, under conditions of instability that constantly question its relevancy. These three artists are living their creative lives while embracing the art of painting and its turbulent history, striving for a kind of creativity difficult to realize amidst so many jostling artistic genres, and in many ways they exemplify a beautiful, creative way of life ideal for this age of contemporary art.
Embracing for Painting is divided into two parts, each presenting a different set of new works displayed in two different formats. In “Part 1: Encountering Painting,” the works of all three artists are displayed as a large tableau. The opportunity thus created enables viewers to encounter these works face on, bringing them deeply into the world of painting as envisioned by each of the three artists. The impactful illusion created as the colors of these works weave together offer a rare visual experience. In “Part 2: Surrounded by Painting,” the single tableau style is replaced by a different set of new works now positioned around the gallery, calling and echoing one another through the space, an arrangement that gives viewers a sense of being surrounded by a swirling whirlpool of image and color. These two halves of the exhibition together offer a deep taste of the appeal of painting today, and an encounter with painting offered in an extraordinary manner.

Part 1 Encountering Painting: Jul. 31 (Fri)–Aug. 23 (Sun)
Part 2 Surrounded by Painting: Aug. 28 (Fri)–Sep. 20 (Sun)

[Related Event]
Artist Gallery Talk
Date: Sep. 6 (Sat) 14:00–16:00
Venue: 9F
Please see the official website for reservations.