SHINPEI KUSANAGI

Behold this flag waving in the wind, Tibetan monks say to initiates.Is it the flag which is in motion or is it the wind?

One must respond: it is neither the flag nor the wind. It is the mind.

— Jean Grenier, ’Islands’, (Takeuchi Shoten, 1968). p147

In the past, Kusanagi produced landscape paintings by staining untreated canvases with layers of translucent colors. In recent years, he has continued to use staining as his principal method, while incorporating dynamic and improvisational brushstrokes to apply vivid colors resulting in striking abstract paintings. The coexistence of motion and stillness in the composition and colors, and their contrast and harmony are compositional elements that dramatically extend the pictorial space. Kusanagi’s landscapes evoke familiar natural scenes and phenomena, such as trees, greenery, and flowers; the sun and the moon; and the sea and clouds, while simultaneously making viewers imagine an unknown ‘elsewhere’ that expands outside our world.

Shinpei Kusanagi was born in 1973 in Tokyo. His solo exhibitions include, so far so close, Altman Siegel Gallery S/F, San Francisco (2014) and project N 45 KUSANAGI Shinpei, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo (2011). Kusanagi’s work was featured in the group exhibition MOT Satellite 2017 SPRING - by the deep rivers Tokyo (2017) and VOCA, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo (2011). He has also provided images for numerous book covers. In 2013, Kyuryudo published Kiyosumi kaiwai, a book of Kusanagi’s images and texts. He is currently based in Tokyo_._