- Sakutei - Summer Grasses／2024
Junko Awatani
Junko Awatani
Born in 1984, currently living in Tokyo. After graduating from the Kyoto Institute of Technology Graduate School of Science and Technology, majoring in architectural design, in 2009, he worked at architectural design offices, including those of Junya Ishigami and Ryuji Nakamura, as well as landscape design offices. Since the late 2010s, he has begun creating works related to landscapes and places.
Recent major works include "Sakutei" (2022-), in which thin strips of Japanese paper colored with natural pigments are cut out and assembled into semi-three-dimensional landscapes, and "The Landscape of the Sea" (2021-2023), in which he records in color the seascapes that come to his mind every day. He is exploring active landscape painting techniques that utilize the accumulation of subtle presences.
statement
I would like to explore contemporary landscape painting techniques. Rather than typical single-point perspective landscapes, I would like to create works that are multi-perspective and have a sense of temporal depth. Furthermore, rather than viewing landscape painting as a passive medium, I would like to transform it into an active form of expression, exploring the possibility that this could foster a sense of community Identity. I would like to create a simple, positive framework for contemporary landscapes, unconstrained by existing frameworks and structures.
In my work, I explore the expression of subtle signs of smallness and transience, and the methods of their accumulation. In today's increasingly information-driven world, where perceptions of places are becoming uniform and materiality is becoming diluted, I want to cherish these subtle presences and express their importance. I also hope to pursue a future in which these small worlds function as a means of understanding our larger world through a transparent gaze.
Junko Awatani_CV
Recent major works include "Sakutei" (2022-), in which thin strips of Japanese paper colored with natural pigments are cut out and assembled into semi-three-dimensional landscapes, and "The Landscape of the Sea" (2021-2023), in which he records in color the seascapes that come to his mind every day. He is exploring active landscape painting techniques that utilize the accumulation of subtle presences.
statement
I would like to explore contemporary landscape painting techniques. Rather than typical single-point perspective landscapes, I would like to create works that are multi-perspective and have a sense of temporal depth. Furthermore, rather than viewing landscape painting as a passive medium, I would like to transform it into an active form of expression, exploring the possibility that this could foster a sense of community Identity. I would like to create a simple, positive framework for contemporary landscapes, unconstrained by existing frameworks and structures.
In my work, I explore the expression of subtle signs of smallness and transience, and the methods of their accumulation. In today's increasingly information-driven world, where perceptions of places are becoming uniform and materiality is becoming diluted, I want to cherish these subtle presences and express their importance. I also hope to pursue a future in which these small worlds function as a means of understanding our larger world through a transparent gaze.
Junko Awatani_CV