February 22, 2022
Audio clip and script by Gallery & Curatorial Fellow Aria Cooper
Transcript
Looking at these paintings, what do you see? These paintings feel carefully put together. Notice how the blank background is left in touch and comes through as negative space outside of the brown rectangles and in between the gracefully painted orange and black circles. You can see artist’s hand and sense human touch in these circles as well as in the translucent layers.
I get a sense of ease and release from them while the black and red ovals in the other two works have a sense of rhythm, gently tilted against each other. Some ovals have smaller white dots inside of them that remind me of embryos and provoke a sense of life, which may have been Kenji’s intent as he named these works May Flowers 1-4.
The purple, yellow, and black geometric shapes unite these pieces with the rest of the gallery but they are a noticeable departure from most of Kenji’s work. They abandon the structure that letters and numbers provide for a purely free flowing abstract style. Kenji created these in 2020 and says that this was a bold statement for him because he didn’t go to art school and he was hesitant to pursue a new style.
When looking at these pieces, ask yourself, when was the last time you tried something you were scared or nervous about? When was the last time you were pushed out of your creative comfort zone?