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Japanese art, long cherished for its fluidity and understated elegance, has continued to inspire artists in the 21st Century. Modern and yet timeless, Agora Gallery’s Matrix of the Mind is a survey of talented contemporary Japanese artists. With their appreciation for the natural world and the spiritual mind, these works will captivate the soul with their subtle philosophies and passionate beauty.
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Yuumi Asatsu
 
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Yuumi Asatsu provokes contemplation through her art. She deconstructs everyday objects in such a way as to make the viewer reconsider what they know about the world. In doing so, ideologies come under her scrutiny. She dissects beauty, for example, in terms not just of its aesthetics but of its value.
Not one to stick to any single style or medium, Asatsu refuses to be pinned down by genres and stereotypes. Unrestricted by an expected personal style, she is free to choose the best method for each individual artwork she creates. Therefore, her artworks come in such varied forms as oil on canvas, pen and ink on paper, digital manipulations, and mixed media. Likewise, the subject matter ranges from photorealist to abstracted and surrealist. Even the most straightforward pieces, however, are in fact conceptual. The titles of the works convey the artist’s meditation on life, but it is up to the viewer how each work will be interpreted.
Yuumi Asatsu was born in Hiroshima and current lives in Chiba, Japan
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"The Color That There is There - Blue"
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"The Color That There is There - Red"
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Don
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It is an experimental approach to visually express the depth of the human heart, which often remains vague and elusive. As nothing is more precious to me than human life, I would like to reveal to the viewers of my work the unknown of their inner selves. Recently, I have attempted to express the existence of love because I believe it is the essence of life. At the core of my artistic thoughts, love is a universal aspiration. Searching for simplicity and originality, I am grateful to be able to share my artwork and philosophy with others.
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"I have been Thinking of You"
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"Who are You"
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Kenji Inoue
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Creating volatile tableaus that straddle the line between surrealism and abstraction, Kenji Inoue's visual dynamos are a potpourri of forms, styles, themes and moods that appear to shriek from the depths of our collective subconscious. These artistic detonations defy thematic categorization, as Kenji explodes expectations as well as icons (sometimes literally), in order to yield his distinctive visions. Eruptive bursts of energy serve as Kenji's visual theme, turning even the most benign of nature's processes into its own Big Bang. Alternate personas, rips in consciousness and archetypal mental processes are often manifest as mutating serpentine entities, engaging in titanic alterations or stratospheric battles. Kenji's work is not all fantasy, however, as his choice of using the form of the explosive burst has its organic parallel in natural processes here on earth, from crystals to flowers to tree limbs.
This dialogue about explosions and destruction, as well as psychological and aesthetic transformation, contributes to the visceral complexity one feels experiencing Kenji Inoue's otherworldly paintings.
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"Over the Orion"
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"Les Paul"
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Dominique Lutringer
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"Jardin Interieur 11 208"
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"Jardin Interieur 20 109"
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Ryumei Murahashi
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Ryumei Murahashi's series of copper plate engravings known as the Katana series, examine an age-old culture in a hybrid style that is both contemporary and traditional. Straddling the realms of the past and present, Murahashi's strikingly detailed prints in the Katana series were an effort a little more than a decade in the making. Completed in 2006, the collection of 108 prints, each measuring 8.4 inches high by 2.4 inches wide, serves as a meditation on his Buddhist faith. Murahashi's choice to complete 108 prints was by no means random. In reality, the number carries with it deep spiritual meaning, signifying the number of passions a human is said to possess according to Buddhist doctrine. The number also signifies the beads on a Buddhist rosary, and , like a Zen meditation, Murahashi's prints continuously ponder a single theme, the Katana, or Japanese sword.
Elegant in their asymmetrical balance and stirring in their implicit spirituality, Murahashi's prints are indeed a testament to his own faith and expansive artistic talent. Ryumei Murahashi lives and works in Japan and exhibits internationally.
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"Katana 97"
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"Katana 99"
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Toshiko Nishikawa
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Toshiko Nishikawa’s mixed media works adeptly capture timelessness. Using acrylic boxes and canvas, she gives her work a translucent dimensionality. Different layers of material interact with each other and the shadows and shapes in the acrylic boxes change from every vantage point, creating an ephemeral opus of light and color. The ever-present motion in Nishikawa’s work is quiet and calm, never frenetic. Her work explores unification, inviting viewers to intimately interact with the various languages of perception. In order to truly understand the intricate, sensorial conversation Nishikawa presents, viewers must open up their senses to the movement, emotiveness and evanescence conveyed in the work.
Ultimately, Nishikawa’s art reflects the journey humans embark on daily: the journey to understand our introspective, immaterial selves in relationship to the material world. As an artist, Nishikawa acts as a medium through which life’s metaphysical experiences are crystallized in physical form. Toshiko Nishikawa currently lives and works in Tribeca, New York. Her works have been exhibited internationally.
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"Metamorphosis 1"
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"Metamorphosis 2"
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Dan OBANA
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Art evolves partly through the use of tools which arise that are suited to the age. As such, I am sure that digital technique will play an important role in inventing a new art in modern times. The process of creating original artwork on the computer requires, in my case, multiple-layer manipulations. In my artwork, about fifty layers are combined, processed and manipulated; accordingly, I give my artworks the name of "Digital-HANGA", “HANGA” being traditional Japanese block print. Improving my level of technical skill and the constant evolution of sensitivity, deep thinking and feeling within me are constant goals. I want to absorb and understand the characteristics of both digital and non-digital techniques, so that I can create work that expresses a sense of our modern era and develop art by using the new possibilities opened up to us through the use of digital media.
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"Orphan of Urban Life"
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"Sentiment of Forgotten Nostalgy"
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Naoyuki Okada
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Since moving to New York in 1992, Japanese painter Naoyuki Okada has channeled the influences of his native culture and the art history he explored during years in Europe into an aesthetic of changing continuity. His acrylic and watercolor compositions, most often executed on sprawling rice paper, balance a gentle sense of light and color with broad lines and movements. The dynamism of each work is unmistakably strong, but this cosmic force is tempered by the delicacy of Okada’s details.
The impression of fluid action in his paintings places great emphasis on the subtleties of Okada’s smallest details. As if peering into a river whose every drop fascinates, the viewer is swept up in the strength of direction and flow, but also drawn to the quiet, fleeting glimmers of light and color. Finally, Okada offers the awareness that even the most permanent forces and presences in life have a fleeting energy and will one day disappear. In this sense, he offers a new way of seeing.
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"Mind Explosion"
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"Golden Pillar"
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Masahiko Saga
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Masahiko Saga's vibrant and graphic stylistic fusion of Japanese woodblock prints, or ukiyo-e, and Chinese decorative painting creates a decidedly contemporary vision of ancient art-making traditions. Using the modern methods of computer imaging and archival digital printing, Saga's works possess an identity that is dually grounded in the past and in the present. Each of Saga's vividly colored prints employs traditional Chinese and Japanese symbols, yet is rendered with such crisp clarity and focus that it instantly resonates with the contemporary viewer. In fact, Saga's precise color selection, reflective of his computerized art making process, transforms each print from relic to modern marvel. The works, imbued with a pervasive sense of narrative and sweeping movement, often blur the line between fine art and illustration, again exploring a gentle balance between identities.
Born in Japan, Masahiko Saga uses his finely tuned skills in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to bring his unique aesthetic to life. He currently lives and works in Kyoto.
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"Blue Rooster with Purple Lotus"
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"Blue Rooster with Ice Rose"
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Kae Takashima
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Kae Takashima’s work is a subtly expressive study in contrasts: visually, thematically, and technically. The ephemeral quality of Kae Takashima’s delicate watercolor paintings comes from the Japanese concept of hakanasa, or the transience of life. Takashima renders the decadent effects of time in her abstractions of organic subjects, which wither, burn, and fade. In her works, Takashima explores the uncontrollability and unpredictability of one’s existence by choosing materials beyond her own control, most notably fire. The artist utilizes the juxtaposition of contradictory mediums to create a tenuous balance. The controlled fluidity of watercolor paint against the deliberately, yet haphazardly, burnt paper and canvas surfaces mimics the fleeting characteristic of hakanasa.
Kae Takashima was born in Tokyo and is deeply influenced by Japanese nature. Yet the quiet poeticism of Takashima’s works reflects a diverse range of influences. Kae Takashima lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.
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"Flower Ring"
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"White Tree 2"
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