Tsuyoshi Maekawa's paintings are not to be interpreted as direct representations of something. They're without any reference other than the act of their creation. Maekawa's process includes randomly placing pieces of a jute rice bag onto a canvas, then cutting, sewing and folding the material. He pours whole cans of coloured enamel paint over it. He does this without having a preliminary concept in mind; the act of intuitively creating the work itself is more important than and determining for final result. The brightly coloured textures of the work make it dynamic and show the fighting spirit of the artist. The abstract images they create can be associated with the beauty of true nature, but the artist insists on the viewer making his own associations, which can be very different from the artist's personal view.
Read MoreMaekawa's works are very tactile. One could say that the visual impression of his work is extracted from its tactility. The viewer sees his paintings the way he feels them. The sensitive interpretation of Maekawa's paintings does not stop at their surface, which only acts like a skin, hiding a much deeper and less straightforward level of interpretation.
Text courtesy Axel Vervoordt Gallery.
