ARTISTS

Wataru OZU

Reika MATSUDA

Jiang-Hong CHEN

On the occasion of this new edition of Asia Now, the Galerie Taménaga will present the works of young Japanese artists: Reika Matsuda and Wataru Ozu, as well as those of Chinese artist Chen Jiang-Hong.

Each in their own way, due to their background and curiosity, has been able to integrate notions of Western art with the traditional techniques of their countries of origin.

In their works, Matsuda and Ozu have in common to question the notion of the motif through art.

Thus, Matsuda's painting seems to follow immutable rules, a strict discipline based on the repetition of an infinite pattern. Like the first optical art experiences of the 1960s, she develops an undulating form that reminds us of our DNA’s double helix structure.

Ozu, for his part, likes to summon universal references to art in his painting. Recently, the subject of the apple has invaded his canvases. Indeed, it is a powerful motif associated in our collective unconscious to the exercise of still life, questions the entire history of modern painting from Cézanne to Magritte. Ozu uses this motif infinitely and observes the various transfers resulting from the act of painting.

More than the motif, it is the imaginary gesture that animates Chen's painting. Heir to the pictorial style known as "xieyi", meaning "writing the idea", he combines breathing and mastery of gesture. In an exhilarated choreography, he composes "spontaneous" works where the elements fade out and merge together in a rush of brightness and contrast.