Exhibition

Senrin Yamagishi. Dancing Cherry Blossoms

27 Mar 2018 – 7 Apr 2018

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Onishi Gallery is pleased to present Dancing Cherry Blossoms, a solo exhibition of Senrin Yamagishi, a traditional Japanese painter born in Tokyo in 1962.

About

Inspired by the refined beauty and elegant use of space in byobu screen painting and fusuma-e (sliding door) painting, Yamagishi has devoted her life to Rimpa, an aesthetic design and painting style that emerged in Japan during the Edo period. Passed down from the 17th century, rimpa carries Japan’s decorative arts aesthetic, and Yamagishi illustrates a new form that this traditional creative aesthetic takes through the delicate images on display within this show.

Working with Kyoto’s renowned Kodaiji temple since 1997, Yamagishi’s fusuma-e painting, ‘Spring View—Weeping Cherry Tree’, was modeled after a 100-year old weeping cherry tree at the temple. This piece became her master work and also the temple’s signature image. For the past 20 years, the sliding doors upon which her paintings are displayed are on view to the public every spring when the annual Cherry Blossom Festival is held at the temple. Also taking place during cherry blossom season, this exhibition is on display in New York and we are delighted to have her work, titled in reference to cherry blossom viewing festivals in Japan, celebrated here during this special time.

Yamagishi’s ‘Dancing Cherry Blossom’ painting showcases meticulous fine line drawing with carefree, spirited cherry blossoms swirling in the wind. Pink and purple auras illuminate the edges of the throngs of dancing petals and add dreamy dimension to the abstract yet nature-based image. Yamagishi’s style of painting is called Nihonga, a Japanese style that distinguishes itself through the special materials it requires. For over one thousand years, artists painting in the Nihonga style have used paper, silk, wood, and plaster as their canvases, onto which they apply sumi ink, mineral pigments, white gofun (pulverized seashells), animal or vegetable derived coloring materials, and other natural pigments. Demanding precise and practiced mastery, these materials are challenging to use yet ultimately create a distinctive style that embodies Japanese aesthetics, evoking natural landscape features and spiritual themes. Rarely displayed outside of Japan, Nihonga is a core focus of this exhibition through Yamagishi’s work. Aiming to introduce this rare style of painting to audiences outside Japan, Yamagishi will draw visitors in with the natural beauty of a painting tradition that lives on through a new and vital practice.

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Senrin Yamagishi

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