Pat's Blog

Walking around the streets of our Takamatsu sometimes turns up little surprises. By chance I found an interesting exhibition of photos by Kana Honda at the Tokiwa Gallery in the city.

http://www.hondakana.jp/biography/index/en/



Born in Tokyo in 1970 Kana Honda has picked up several awards and citations in her career. She’s had solo exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo, Kyoto, the USA and Italy. Quite impressive for someone still relatively young.



What really caught my attention with this exhibition is they way she’s used textures and juxstopositioned conflicting perspectives into one another. I’ve not really seen this before, with perhaps the possible exception of David Hockney. But this is a bit different from Hockney’s use of cut out photos pasted on board and canvases. The woven effect or ‘Photo Cross’ as she calls it, is very subtle and she does some interesting things with photos unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.



Comparisons don’t come easily with Kana’s work. Oscar Oiwa is one of the few that do come to mind. The Brazilian Oiwa, a 3rd generation Japanese Brazilian now living and working in NY had a beautiful installation/painting on Ogi Island just a short hop from Takamatsu, which was sadly lost to a fire shortly after the Seto Uchi Art Festival in 2010. Oiwa has such a playful and fresh way of looking at Japan and the retrospective he held in Takamatsu a couple of years ago was a knockout show. Witty, playful, fantastic and often dark but always thought provoking.

http://www.oscaroiwastudio.com/

So if you’re in town this month please drop in to the Tokiwa Gallery for a look-see.





I’ll be back next week with more exciting stuff for you so in the meantime, please keep all those cards and letters pouring in …