HIROSHI SENJU

This exhibition offers a compelling overview of Senju’s signature series, including monochromatic, fluorescent, multicoloured, and platinum-pigment Waterfalls. The exhibition, which shines a light on the evolution and many nuances of his Waterfall works, follows a number of high-profile projects the artist has undertaken since his last solo exhibition in Singapore in early 2021.

Since then, Senju was been awarded the 77th Imperial Prize and the Japan Art Academy Prize, the youngest artist to be so honoured, and was commissioned to create an immersive, site-specific fluorescent Waterfall installation for the Art Institute of Chicago. One of the artist’s multicoloured Waterfalls was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, where it is currently on view in the Toshiba Gallery of Japanese art, and most recently, he created two works for the American Embassy in Tokyo.

Senju has been exploring the sublime power of nature for more than thirty years. The falls, in his view, are a unifying symbol—a powerful example of a life-giving force that people everywhere can appreciate. ‘The natural world is a place of refuge and a common ground we share that transcends natural, cultural and ideological boundaries,’ he says.

Senju’s decades-long preoccupation with waterfalls is an homage to planet earth. Although his deep respect for Japanese culture and traditions has given him a particular reverence for and aesthetic appreciation of nature’s qualities, he views these as collective values that unite humankind. As we continue to grapple with climate change, the visual immediacy of his falls are a potent reminder of the power of the natural world to evoke awe and wonder.

Senju created the Waterfalls on view using bespoke natural pigments produced in Japan as well as manmade pigments. His robustly physical process involves pouring pigments downward from the top of paintings mimicking the trajectory of gushing water. He also uses spray guns and airbrushes to create a sensation of mist. Standing before these paintings, the senses and imagination are activated—one can almost hear the rushing water and feel the dampness in the air. Their waters are emblematic of the continuous flow of life’s energy as well as the dichotomy between permanence and transformation, between movement and stillness.