Katsue Sukenari " My garden "

" Katsue Sukenari’s demarcation of space "

Today, Katsue Sukenari’s works are taking on new dimensions. I thought that this was because of the gradual changes in the objects in Sukenari’s world, or in the themes she deals with in her works; but perhaps it would be better to describe this as due to “concentration” or “exaltation” rather than “change.” Her paintings are either laid out as if they are demarcating land, or of lush plants against blank space, though half-decorative. There is one more type: The foliage (figure), which fills the space, is almost like a silhouette, and an array of lights shine through from behind (ground). I felt there were basically three elements that could be identified in Sukenari’s latest works. Sukenari’s studio is in the mountains, about 90 minutes by car from her home. Each day, she commutes to this studio, and while immersed in her work, tends to her vegetables and flowers in a garden on a small leased plot outside. This encounter with Mother Earth provides much inspiration for Sukenari’s paintings. As mentioned above, her works that resemble land demarcations do, frankly speaking, make one think of farmland divisions. Rather than geometrically precise divisions, such as with large rice paddies, they are sequences of indefinite rectangles. Sukenari’s garden is just like this, with the areas occupied by plants growing in a mixture of ways and spreading multi-directionally. Sukenari laid out the plants as if she were drawing on the earth, plowing a blank page and filling it in with lines and colors, as though planting seeds. As opposed to drawing lines, her brush, brimming with moisture, flows onto the surface in light color. Sometimes the background is painted over fully, with a figure of a plant emerging from it- a reversal of figure and ground. As if to prove that plants are nurtured by soil, light and water, the paintings are full of light and the colors are sparkling. In journeying between earth and painting, so to say, farm work and creating art form a close partnership, revealing the new world of Sukenari.

( Makiko Matake / Freelance Curator )