HRD FINE ART

Introduction

HRD Fine Art is delighted to announce a solo exhibition of Kaori Tanaka, titled "Flow / And Beyond," on view from June 23 through August 6, 2022. This exhibition is the first solo exhibition of the Kyoto-based artist to be held at the gallery.

Kaori Tanaka was born in 1982 and completed the post-graduate program of the painting course at Seian University of Art and Design in Shiga Prefecture. Tanaka creates fantastical landscape paintings depicting symbolic motifs inspired by Zen-Buddhist garden, Mt. Fuji, traditional Shanshui oriental paintings, among other things. Vivid, fluorescent-looking or pastel-toned colors in pink, green, or blue shades are characteristic of her work and, combined with soft, curvy lines and shapes, create utopian images that diffuse blissful and calm feelings, at least at first glance. However, her unworldly depictions of the mountains and waters give somewhat unsettling impressions to the observer, as if to reflect the insecure state of the present real world. Some sort of uncanniness can even be felt from her canvases.

In this exhibition Tanaka will present her new series for which she draws inspiration from "Akae" traditional ceramic paintings, as well as her mainstay Shanshui-inspired works.

Through her art, Kaori Tanaka continuously question and investigate the notion and the spirit of "Oriental" in modern Japan, while at the same time attempting to visualize the realm of human mind that can be glimpsed in the form of its relationship with nature.

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Artist's Statement

Mt Fuji, Shanshui traditional Oriental landscape paintings, Japanese gardens, and other artificially-altered natural sceneries are the motifs of my painting. By focusing on human perception of scenery and space, and by capturing the ambiguity and blurred line between reality and fiction, I aim to reveal the shape of human consciousness.

Our lifestyles, environment, era, values ─ sometimes we change these things on purpose; sometimes we have no other choice but to change them for various reasons and conditions. We can try to stop and think, but the days just go beyond us, flowing on and on beneath our feet. Through my works themed on Shanshui landscape, with mountains and waters, I keep observation on this flow of the world.

In this exhibition I will present my recent and new works, including the latest series with Akae ceramic painting motifs.

- Kaori Tanaka