"A Window on Nature: Art of Asuka Hishiki" Exhibition
Arsenal Gallery
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The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation presents "A Window on Nature: Art of Asuka Hishiki", an exhibition of over 35 watercolors illustrating a poetic and detailed observation of plants and insects. Her portraits of vegetables from New York City’s celebrated Greenmarkets and her imaginative plant-like insects from her Association of Type B metamorphosis Entomologists (ATBE) series are on view April 26 through June 6.
Influenced by a childhood reference book of insects, plants and animals, as well as her fascination with the work of 18th century naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian, Hishiki’s paintings are painstakingly detailed and exacting—individual hairs are visible on her renderings of life-sized ants. Offering a visually nourishing treat, Hishiki faithfully captures crisp, ripe colors of locally grown vegetables, as well as the sensuous formations of heirloom tomatoes, which resemble Edward Weston’s peppers. In her fanciful ATBE series, plants grow butterflies instead of flowers and brilliantly patterned caterpillars sprout mushrooms on their backs. Though a stickler for details, she also forms personal relationships with her subjects, naming each of her tomatoes based on their shape (Mr. Big Nose and Yakuza Brothers) and creating intricate histories for her whimsical insects.
Photography and video have since become the norm in nature documentation—recording species faster and more accurately than painters. However, Hishiki wonders if they record her subjects as she sees them. Cameras have one fixed, instantaneous vision, yet she notes that people need time to see an object. Painters have multiple viewpoints and time to study and reflect on their subjects, selectively capturing details. Hishiki displays her paintings on stark white paper that suggest the form of collection boxes with the hope that others will see as much beauty and invest the time in her specimens as she does.
A native of Kyoto, Japan, artist Asuka Hishiki received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (1995) and her Master of Fine Arts in Painting (1997) at Kyoto City University of Arts. Hishiki is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and has exhibited in their annual exhibition at the Horticultural Society of New York since 2009. Hishiki has also exhibited at the Southampton Cultural Center, Southampton, New York; the South Australia Museum, Adelaide, Australia; The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York; Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey; and the New York State Museum, Albany, New York.
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Schedule
from April 26, 2012 to June 06, 2012