ANNE KAGIOKA RIGOULET

Anne Kagioka Rigoulet has thus far been engaged in creating sculptural paintings based on images of water-reflections sourced from all over the world, using a unique painting technique that combines classical sgraffito techniques with fabric collage.

During her residency at Bourglinster Castle in Luxembourg, Kagioka was captivated by the boulders dotted about the town and by the surrounding rocky mountains. The concept at the heart of her practice, ‘the abstract forms that lie hidden in everyday landscapes and the energy of nature’, presented itself before her very eyes, coexisting with the architecture, one with the forests and the castle. From there, the artist visited the natural landscapes nearby, and deepened her understanding of the geography and history of the region at museums, thus beginning to engage with her new motif, ‘rock’.

By painting the rocky landscape, Kagioka strove to express the dynamism and incredible energy of nature, particularly of the earth. And, in order to paint this motif, she experimented with various materials - different types of canvases, fabric, paper, as well as watercolor, acrylic, gouache, sumi ink, pastels... The brushstrokes that cover the immense surface of these paintings give voice to what is essential to the artist, what she wants to communicate through her works. Using her whole body, maintaining a flow of movement both free and powerful, the artist converses with the canvas, stroke by stroke.

The abstract shapes of the rocks that appear both human- and animal-like, the colors that transform in a myriad of ways depending on the time of day and weather conditions. As Kagioka continued her research, she discovered that 20 billion year ago, the region had been submerged beneath oceans, and that the rocks had been shaped by the force of water. These motifs, in which aeons of time and overwhelming energy had accumulated, brought the artist into a new dimension. In her own words, ‘I realized that it was possible to portray the existence of water and its energy by using the shape of the rocks; and so I was able to link it back to my own artistic practice up to that point, in which my subject had been the surface of water.’

In this exhibition, the energy of those rocks and the essential elements of nature experienced by the artist will be recreated in the gallery.

※ The three-month residency is part of an artist exchange program with Youkobo Art Space, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Luxembourg.

Press Release: Courtesy of Masahiro Maki Gallery