Thursday, July 09 6pm to 8pm
JanKossen Contemporary
529 W. 20th Street, 6th Floor, New York
A traditional master of Japanese painting, Hiroomi Ito belongs to a small category of Japanese artists who not only produce their own color pigments out of natural dyes, but makes the rice paper – the canvas – upon which the artwork is painted on.
In his first solo show, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Ito asks himself why there is a dichotomy in the Japanese psyche; the refusal to accept ones cultural roots and whether the fusion between the traditional and modern has indeed resulted in a loss of “….the pride of being Japanese”.
The first impression of Ito’s work is that of classical painting. The artists uses materials and techniques that echoes the style of ancient Japan. However, Ito’s subject matter is in fact a contemporary one; where the artist looks at Japan’s modern society and infrastructure, and how the culture of the family structure – the backbone of Japanese culture – has steadily disappeared; along with the pride associated to belonging to an old culture.
For exhibition details visit: http://www.jankossen.com/