KATSUYOSHI INOKUMA

Whitestone Gallery is pleased to present Cerulean Blue, an exhibition of paintings by Japanese artist Katsuyoshi Inokuma. Of all colours, blue has the most significant penetrating power and is diffused the most in the air, resulting in the blue sea and sky that our eyes see. For Inokuma, blue touches people’s memories by connecting these two elements. This is Inokuma’s eighth exhibition with Whitestone and his first solo exhibition in Taiwan. Cerulean Blue will showcase over 30 paintings and works on paper that the artist created from 1997 to 2020.

Highly drawn to the self-portraits painted by the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, Inokuma focuses on the construction of light and shadow. His portrait paintings from the early period, such as 19-Year-old Self-portrait (1970) and Dialogue (1980), breathe a sense of a surrealist atmosphere. Statue-like figures are placed in the centre of a simplified background, with a dreamlike feeling floats in the air. The artist later met an abstract painter named Masazo Kamata in 1990. Inspired by KAMATA, he discarded the obligations to the labour of illustrating things, and turned to colourful abstract painting, presenting a feeling of contemplation.

Inokuma also had a dynamic change in his drawing techniques. In work IN BLUE Nov ‘95, he starts to explore the definition and relationship of Rectangular structure, without his dripping and sharp brushstroke. To bring out the desired depth in the blue, Inokuma manipulates foundation layers of multiple colours and erases some of the paint after that. ‘Erasure’ is an essential and repetitive process in his paintings.

Inokuma also mixes coffee grounds to create a random, uneven texture; when light is reflected on it, and even more complex colour surface is produced. Inokuma grinds pastel up in a mortar to create his pastel works, he then paints with his hands and erases using sandpaper, creating a rough texture in the material. The stage Inokuma creates full of colours associated with air, water and land, endowing his canvas with an atmosphere of tranquillity and spirituality.