Robert Yasuda transparent and translucent
TRANSPARENT AND TRANSLUCENT combines luminous sculpted panels and works on paper that incorporate complexities among color fields, light, shadow, and sculptural elements.
Yasuda begins his process with a sculpted panel, often with round corners and slight, elongated indentations along the sides. He subtly modifies and prepares the panel to then cover it with very fine, thin fabric and many translucent layers of pigment. The final color is dynamic and reveals the relationship between many colors and textures and their responses to light. These depths of visible layers and modifications speak to various roles of the piece’s elements as surface, frame, and medium of experiencing the painting.
Of his work, Yasuda says, “The perception of transparent and translucent moments by the depth of their visual complexity affects viewing time as well as alterations of optical focus which may be physically felt and defined. This continually changing revelation is the mechanism of the subject matter, the metaphors being left to the viewer to determine as to what is seen and felt.”
With a long history of large-scale, site specific installations in New York City, Robert Yasuda is no stranger to thoughtful installation. For TRANSPARENT AND TRANSLUCENT, he created four pillars to be placed in each of the corners of the Memphis gallery. Throughout his exhibition history, he has rarely encountered a space with four exact corners.
Since the 1970s, Robert Yasuda has created works at The
Clocktower and Betty Parsons Gallery, as well as MoMA PS1,
The Brooklyn Anchorage, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Corcoran Museum of Art. He received his BFA and MFA from the Pratt Institute and divides his time between studios in New York City and Key West.
