NYAB Event - Keizaburo Okamura Exhibition

Keizaburo Okamura Exhibition

Dillon Gallery

This event has ended.

Keizaburo Okamura has in recent years become a standard-bearer for the new generation of contemporary Nihonga artists, attracting significant museum exhibitions for his monumental installations. Okamura’s work is made on huge cedar boards; the surface of the panel is burned, shaved and then planed to reveal the image. He then treats the panels with glue and dosa, and finally applies ocher clay and sand to the surface. His work explores innovative techniques previously unthinkable in the field of Nihonga. Okamura’s subjects range from mythological creatures to birds and elephants. However, even when drawing the more common animals, his approach is not realistic. He investigates the necessity of connecting human beings with nature, devoting his efforts to the creation of works that evoke vernacular traditions and customs. There is timelessness in his work, an impression that suggests both primitive art and spiritualism.

"The fact that I was born in Japan and live in Japan is an important thing to me. And I try to give a structure to the imaginations that come from this land and culture. I draw animals which are an allegory of nature, life, atmospheric circulation, temperature, humidity, vegetation and our behavior living in this environment and abnormal climate that has resulted from our behavior … All these creatures, except birds, are covered in scales. For me, scales are a symbol of water and life and it expresses humidity in Japan and life that reside in it… I draw a lot of eyes. Eyes are an organ for seeing things. We are able to know and understand many things through the eye. And I think this leads to reason. So, I draw eyes as a symbol of human reason."
-- K. Okamura

[Image: Keizaburo Okamura "UTO 10-1" mineral pigment, oyster shell, and crushed glass on wood panel, 36 x 46 in.]