Pigment

PIGMENT

LOUISE BLYTON MAKOTO FUJIMURA RAPHAËLLE GOETHALS JUDITH KRUGER HIROKO OTAKE JESSICA PALOMO

CURATED BY JUDITH KRUGER

Bentley Gallery Exhibition January 17th - March 14th 2020BENTLEY GALLERY | 215 East Grant Street Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 480-946-6060 | www.bentleygallery.com

Pigment is a group show featuring works by Louise Blyton, Makoto Fujimura, Raphaëlle Goethals, Judith Kruger, Hiroko Otake and Jessica Palomo. These notable artists delve into the exploration of color not merely as visual sensation, but its physical manifestation as raw pigment and all that it conjures.

The fact that color is not tangible tends to be overlooked. Our eyes detect light with wavelengths that bounces off objects, determining the particular color we see. This selection of artworks engages with the corporeal material that governs what we perceive as color. Whether it’s the application of natural minerals to affirm our relationship with the earth or the vibrancy of pure pigment to accentuate form. Each of these artists utilizes the physical aspect of color to give meaningful insight into our visual faculty and beyond.

LOUISEBLYTON

To construct her works, Blyton covers custom-built balsa wood stretchers with raw linen, adorning them with layers of pure pigment or acrylic paint. Each pigment reacts differently to raw linen and requires a specific number of coats to reach the artist’s desired level of saturation. As the artist explains, “I’m always looking for a kind of quietness and harmony when making my works even if the color being used is loud.”

The artist creates her own spatial dimension by manipulating the shape of the canvas, which escapes from the flat surface of the wall, confusing its role as a painting. “Rather than responding to the architecture they ask particular attributes of the building to act as support,” as some works appear to climb the surface of the walls, while others straddle columns and corners.

PIGMENTThe Long Red Line (series)pigment on linen 20.25 x 1 x 4 inches 2019

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My Inner Beat pigment on linen

8 x 12.5 x 2 inches 2019

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MAKOTOFUJIMURA

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As a contemporary artist drawing inspiration from 16th and 17th century Japanese art, using Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) materials of ground minerals such as azurite, malachite, as well as gold, I am delighted to partake in the PIGMENT exhibit at Bentley Gallery. The new works shown are "Silence and Beauty" series done in conjunction with writing my book of the same title (IVPress, 2017), reflecting on Shusaku Endo's "Silence." While painting the images, I was also serving as a special adviser to Martin Scorsese for the film of the same title. The paintings were done using refractive pigments to respond to the deep wrestling of faith, doubt and beauty exhibited in "Silence" story. "The Interior Castle" (2019) piece further reflects a condition of darkness which can, paradoxically, reveal light and hope.

Mineral pigments create "slow art" both in terms of execution of layers which require one to slow down to manipulate the surface while drying, and for the viewer to slow down to be able to "see" the refractive colors that refuses to be captured in digital imagery. Thus my work has been called “a small rebellion against the quickening of time” (David Brooks NYT). I am simply trying to recover what it means to be fully human, with all of our senses fully alive.

-Makoto Fujimura

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Silence - Ame (Rain)minerals and gessoon canvas 48 x 60 inches 2017

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Silence and Beauty - Eco minerals and gesso

on canvas 48 x 72 inches

2016

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