NYAB Event - Oi Sawa "Recent Paintings on Tin, and Drawings"

Oi Sawa "Recent Paintings on Tin, and Drawings"

Viridian Artists, Inc.

This event has ended.

In Oi Sawa’s surrealistic universe nothing is what it appears to be. In these unusual and original works, etched surfaces of tin or zinc, are painted over in a palette of silvery grays, compacting a large amount of visual information into the limited space. Reminiscent of the purity of early Cubism, abstracted skyscrapers and mazes are juxtaposed with an Escher-like precision. Oi Sawa uses controlled geometric patterns to form a three dimensional puzzle. In a complex reexamination of space and reflective surface, the resultant painted panels echo the transparent overlapping planes as in a maze of mirrors. One can compare them to the architecture: as complex as a Gehry building, but as pure as one of Ando.

Although the paintings are subdued in color and style, close analysis reveals a subtle yet broad range of gray tonalities, sometimes touched with reds and golds. The reflections of flames in a metal stovepipe in the artist’s studio are perhaps the original inspiration for the use of tin surfaces in the paintings. For despite its precision, Oi Sawa’s personal conception of space and the universe does not exclude passion. The vibrant colors highlight and recall the organic world that at first glance seems absent from this futurist dream of Architectural Constructivism. Implicit in the work is a cautionary tale about the computerization of our modern world and the danger of a loss of the natural and the inspirational. Through the visual power of art, nature--the almost absent counter image of this mechanized world—is ultimately redeemed.

Media

• Painting
• Drawing

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