YUGEN Gallery hosted the abstract artist Keiko Nasu solo exhibition Crazy Moments from Friday, July 8 through Sunday, July 17.

Connect colors without forcing focus

 

Keiko Nasu has distinguished herself in commercial illustration for advertisements and magazines since she was a student at Musashino Art University, and continues to work in a wide variety of fields, including music programming for radio and events.

Although her father was a poet and her mother was a hat designer, and she demonstrated acclaimed drawing skills that got her pictures in children's magazines from an early age, she says that at the time she had no interest in art and dreamed of becoming an entomologist. She was fascinated by the patterns of nature, and enjoyed peeling the bark off the eucalyptus trees in her yard and examining what lay inside, as well as inspecting the veins of leaves and insect scales under a microscope. She was sickly and spent much of her time lying down, so she would let her imagination run free as she stared at the spots on the ceiling, demonstrating how even in her childhood she was grounding herself in abstract art.

Discomfort with clarity

 

Nasu's expressive work like her artist portraits, which have become synonymous for her, convey a sense of the British rock that influenced her in her youth with its "fashionable outerspace" vibes. They are matched by abstract works based on the concept of "no focus." These are shaped not only by a fascination with patterns born from nature, but also with occasional touches of her father's letters and words. She was fascinated by the fact that a single line of her father's poetry pointed to a much greater world beyond.

"Right now, everything people say on social media is so direct. There is also a sense that when it comes to painting, only accurate representation of form is acceptable. I personally like mono-tone works, and as an artist I think the ideal is simple expression using only the bare minimum of lines. But I feel a lot of discomfort with the world's insistence on clarity." This is what brought Nasu to abstract expression.

When she attended church on weekends as a child, Nasu was taught that in the end, people will come to mutual understanding. However, what we learn through the daily interactions of people is that the world is interwoven through conflict, despite what the government or religions say. "Even if you generally agree on ideas, the slightest difference can completely end all dialog. Non-focus is one way to overcome that kind of conflict."

Colors layered on the canvas

 

This exhibition, Crazy Moments, presents 13 works on canvas that have been primed then layered with multiple colors. Layering colors in acrylic paints is different from blotting and fading of watercolors. Colors lurk in the depths behind each other, creating a complexity in every encounter that cannot easily be grasped. Here colors mingle, expressing the miraculous nature of a world full of living things that mingle the same way.

These layered colors can express the starbursts that appear when you squeeze your eyes shut, or the inexpressible visions that unroll in the darkness before we sleep. Nasu explains that she creates these works out of an interest in these states of the human mind, as a kind of prelude to other worlds.

The show's title is intended to help audiences share the artist's sense, time, and atmosphere of "madness" that overtakes her from the moment her brush touches canvas, not allowing her to set it down until it is complete. Sharing time with these layered colors is a raw, joyful experience. The colors that arise vary with the viewer, and their difference represents the unlimited acceptance of pure freedom.

This is a consistent stance for Nasu, who has always offered works emphasizing the ultimate priority of life whenever conflicts occur in the world. It grasps the world's complexity with a love for all living things that is the exact opposite of the word "crazy."

Colors mingle and connect worlds

 

People have their own memories of the same event, and the same land acquires different layers of time. This world is inextricably made of such, and so can become something utterly unknown with the slightest shift in time or perspective. Our modern reality requires us to bring that complexity into focus and simplify it. That allows us to know that behind every color we will find another one waiting.

Just as the artist depicts her own state of mind, the viewer uses art to look into the pure colors of their own inner self. Nasu's work calls attention to color differences in order to project pure freedom in a world of conflict, showing that the more colors mingle, the more pure colors emerge.