Free Forms

AIFA’s first exhibition of the winter season in Verbier features two emerging Japanese artists, Mayu Kunihisa and Kansai Noguchi, combining paintings with ceramics under the theme of Free Forms. Both artists belong to an emerging movement that revisits traditions of controlled shapes’ proportions into contemporary forms. Two distinctive illustrations of a Japanese contemporary art scene in constant evolution, finding its own way, between tradition and modernity.

As Mayu Kunihisa uses her whole body to obtain the desired shapes, it erases the distance, and creates a special relationship between the canvas and her; to the extent that she knows when her work is completed at the time she starts to feel a change in this singular connection. This series of works created by using her whole body and the centrifugal force to propel her arm strokes to eventually result in painted layers is called “Wit-Wit”.

Mayu Kunihisa’s art finds its origin in her interest for the theory of proportions and symmetry, highlighted in the drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci, itself based on the work of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius. She uses her own body as a pair of compasses, the breadth of her half-circles is dictated by her own size and the movement of her arm’s strokes. Her entire body participates in the creation process, resulting in a special connection between the artist and the canvas itself as if she would become one with the painting.

She picks her works’ colours depending on her mood at the time she starts painting as an illustration of the importance of spontaneity in her creation process. Stemming from mathematical theories, her work is in direct connection with her freedom of body movements and the impulsion generated by her artistic emotions.

Kansai Noguchi creates art pieces in a variety of shapes and textures, working with different types of medium, from clay to prints, by way of ink paintings. His aesthetic is often described as modern classical, with a limited colour palette usage.

Kansai Noguchi’s ceramics are inspired by Jomon, Mehrgarh and Greek pottery. The simplicity of shapes, the purity of lines and the limited colour palette are all characteristics of his work. Music too is a source of inspiration as he started his professional journey as a musician before feeling attracted by visual and craftsmanship arts during his time spent in New York City.

His work fuses contemporary and experimental techniques with traditions and cultural heritage. In his creation he revisits Japanese culture in a search of balance and lightness, leaving space for self-interpretation. For some of his work, he uses circles and souls in connection with the idea of “reincarnation”, a manifest reference to Japanese culture; a way to give birth or more precisely a new breath of life to concepts coming from the past.

Both artists have been rewarded with numerous distinctions, and their works are attracting the attention of collectors and institutions from Japan and overseas with busy solo and group show programs.