New product with stronger color intensity
George Hayashi is an artist who is attracted to the instincts and lifestyles of wild animals and creates works with the theme of "NOMAD HEART". "SURE SHOT" is an exhibition that will display about 15 pieces, mainly new works that are even more energetic than his solo exhibition "COSMIC DUAL FORCES" at YUGEN Gallery in 2022, which received a lot of attention.
In his previous solo exhibition, he expressed the antagonism between the static energy that animals and nature hold within them and the dynamic energy that they radiate outward, based on the Feng Shui principle of "Taoyin Tai Chi." This exhibition takes the universality of energy as its theme.
George Hayashi fuses the ink painting he learned from his grandmother, the Japanese painter Hayashi Sogi, with street culture. His style, which combines representational paintings of animals such as tigers and lions with abstract expressions that make striking use of the powerful color red, has been highly praised both in Japan and overseas.
Recently, Hayashi has been creating his work while listening to explanatory videos about the origin of the universe and natural science. He came up with this theme after learning about the nature of energy in the natural world.
"I learned that color and light are manifestations of changes in energy, and that even if what we see changes, the energy itself remains forever. I connected with my senses."
Radiating energy into the future
Just like the energy of nature, which has been Hayashi's consistent motif in his creative endeavors, the energy of art remains with the viewer forever, and the title of the exhibition is "SURE SHOT," which has the connotation of "never missing the target" or "a sure shot."
"I believe that if people look carefully at the pictures we artists create, the emotions and memories we put into them will remain with them forever, even as they undergo various changes. I paint with the intention of sending out impactful waves of energy towards the future."
Every minute and second of our lives, from birth to death, remains as energy for the future, to be discovered by our descendants in the distant future. With this image in mind, he says he creates his works as if he is "collecting colored fragments of energy and radiating them."
"My last exhibition was my first in three years, and I put all my effort into it, but looking back now, I feel like I wasn't able to use color to the fullest. Now that the world is moving normally again, I feel more open-minded, and rather than questioning the social meaning or theme, I want people to see what I've done to the fullest. This time, I want to do it with that simple goal in mind."
On May 5, 2023, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the COVID-19 state of emergency. While the risk remains and society as a whole continues to be vigilant, the fact that we have begun to move back to normal has also influenced my motivation to create. Hayashi also said that in May, just before this exhibition, a series of exhibitions and special exhibitions were held in Fujian Province, China and Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, and that even though he was busy preparing for these, he felt full of energy to paint.
Painting is witnessing the birth of life
Hayashi, who has always paid homage to famous paintings in addition to the exhibition theme, will be working on Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," a masterpiece that is said to depict a surreal situation in which a man and a woman become one, guided by the energy of love, and are connected to the universe.
"Although it's not a story about Adam and Eve, I feel something like the beginning of the earth or the origin of the universe in the work "Kiss."
For example, recent research has shown that the majority of microorganisms from the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago still survive in the earth's layers, allowing us to imagine the origin and circulation of countless forms of life.
Hayashi brings together small pieces of color with clear outlines and embeds animal images, integrating the floating energy of life in this way to depict a surreal world that emerges. Here, the theme of the integration of the energy of all living things beyond time and space clearly emerges.
George Hayashi says that the colors in this work are "stronger" than in his previous works. He believes that painting is an energy phenomenon in which colors collide on the screen, and that it is like witnessing the birth of a life form.
