Enpei ITO solo exhibition ‘Recurrence Phenomenon’

※This exhibition has been extended until September 23 (Fri).

YUKARI ART CONTEMPORARY is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Enpei ITO. The exhibition will open on September 3, 2011 at our gallery’s space in Meguro, Tokyo.

Enpei Ito was born and raised in the rich natural surroundings of Kasama City in Ibaraki prefecture of Japan, where he continues to live. He has been creating paintings and sculptures in the motif of unforgettable figures of humans and animals, which reflect the artist’s world full of originality.

For this exhibition, he will move on to a new theme, 'Forest'.

Last spring, when he was walking with his dog on his usual daily routine, the pulse of mountains in the spring wind left a strong impression on his heart as a deep, enormous vibration of life. He says “I don't pursue only visible subjects. I feel that one of the very important elements for my further self-expression and my current aim is that by including various senses of vitality, my works will start to move and function just like living creatures''. At ''VOCA 2011''(※), he exhibited his very first painting in the new style, in which he doesn't represent any figurative motifs at all. It was a major challenge for him.

His new styled works that have continued to evolve since VOCA will be displayed in this exhibition titled ‘Recurrence Phenomenon’. Under the theme of 'an eternal sense of vitality inhering in the forest', about 10 works including oil paintings and ceramic sculptures will be exhibited.

※One of the most established showcases of 2D works by artists under 40 year old upon the recommendation of curators, journalists and researchers from all over Japan.

Comment from the Artist:

A forest, a great living organism formed with lots of small energies overlapping with each other and creating chains constantly maintaining their relationships, has been viewed as a mother enveloping everything and a symbol of universalistic things like a subject of fear or worship that people have been believing since long ago. This relationship seems to remind us of our human community and to make us think of how we should always be in this contemporary society.

In my painting, the figures progressively appear by layering diluted oil paint over and over. Every day, my engagement with the forest is like a conversation, and I carefully try to find an image I felt at the time. I don't pursue only visible subjects, I create works with the aim that my works will start to include various senses of vitality, moving and functioning as if they were living creatures'.

In my ceramic sculptures, some new expressions are formed by mixing dead leaves and branches picked up in the forest with barbotine(liquefied clay), harnessing the organic form of the natural object and the liquidity of barbotine. Alongside my painting, using this method allows me to capture the vitality of nature through a combination of improvisation and the themes through which I look at nature. We can see a variety of images depending on the viewpoints. Natural objects covered with soil disappear through burning in a high-temperature kiln. Because those natural object parts become empty spaces, some unimaginable voids will appear inside the work, which we can never know from its surface. Dead natural objects will be reborn through combination with soil and they will radiate a strong sense of being alive from inside the work.

I think that exhibiting paintings and sculptures in the same space can make both types of work reverberate against each other, and can show my own view of life well. I hope lots of people will enjoy engaging freely with my works.

We would be very grateful if you could introduce this exhibition through your media.

Enpei Ito Bio:

https://www.yukariart-contemporary.com/en/enpei_ito/