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Artwork Description

With evocative paintings that call to mind the luscious colours of Rothko, yet at the same time imbuing them with the intellectually dark timbre of Richter, the abstract canvases of the young Kentaro Sato (b. 1990 –) awaken emphatic memories of nature and the inner spirit. The genre of Nihonga (Japanese painting using natural pigments and minerals) in which he works in is an oft-archaic medium that has been unable to move on from the giants of the 20th century, with the majority of artists stuck in the quagmires of a staid conservatism dating back from the Bubble Economy of the 80’s, or simply creating works with subject matter and compositions of a plastic realism that are difficult to distinguish from Western oil painting. It is within this context that one can see an emergence of a new generation of Nihonga artists who have pushed the genre in a new direction, garnering prominence and recognition within the eyes of Western collections by focusing on paintings that are filled with intriguing subject matter never before featured in Nihonga, while using techniques and motifs that brim with progressive innovation. Sato is one such youthful artist who is helping to propel Nihonga into vistas previously unseen, creating works that are painted using the oft-forgotten technique of “tarashikomi”, or pouring ink in layers over a canvas or screen. The resulting paintings are inner landscapes that call to mind the traditions of Western abstract expressionism, yet with a uniquely Japanese aesthetic.