Rui Matsunaga
dal 21/3/2007 al 5/5/2007
Segnalato da
21/3/2007
Rui Matsunaga
Gallery Primo Alonso, London
Matsunaga transports elements of the present into an unknown future, creating gatekeepers who seem to beckon us into their spiritual world magazine pin-ups adopt the lotus pose and commune with the dead and Mickey Mouse turns to the dark side.
Tech-Mac-Maya-Kon
Rui Matsunaga's hypnotic paintings draw you into other times and other worlds.
She transports elements of the present into an unknown future, creating
gatekeepers who seem to beckon us into their spiritual world magazine
pin-ups adopt the lotus pose and commune with the dead and Mickey Mouse turns
to the dark side. Nature is dominant here, and wolves and owls, ivy and cherry
blossom frame each character as divining rods, pagan symbols and spheres of
energy circle overhead. A delicate grisaille girl punctuates Matsunaga¹s work.
Perhaps an alter-ego of the artist, her body is an amalgam of futuristic
armour, flowers and cobweb tatting, her uplifted eyes looking far into the
future. She is entranced, lost in a vision. Her raised hand asks us to pause a
moment and join her in the experience. How can we refuse?
Charlotte Mullins, February 2007
Gallery Primo Alonso is delighted to present London-based Japanese artist, Rui
Matsunaga¹s first solo exhibition Tech-Mac-Maya-Kon where she will show a
series of paintings and new large-scale drawings. Tech-Mac-Maya-Kon alludes to
a popular Japanese cartoon of a girl-witch casting spells that enable her to
transform anything at will but Matsunaga has mutated the innocent memory of
this into an allegory for our contemporary times. Matsunaga¹s enigmatic
paintings seem to fuse a multitude of references from ancient magics to
cybernetics that all lead to a meditative sense of our universal human
condition. Another perspective to seeing Matsunaga's paintings and drawings
are that they are rooted in the Japanese background of a post nuclear bombed
society and the cultural impact of that in relation to nature and fiction. Her
works draw inspiration from contemporary Manga and mythology to reflect an
increasingly technologised world where a new spirit of mind raises a range of
questions to our relationship with nature, the unseen world of the magical and
the spiritual.
Rui Matsunaga graduated from the Royal Academy School of Art in 2002 and has
since exhibited internationally and widely. Her work is currently featured in
the book "Painting People", by Charlotte Mullins published by Thames and
Hudson.
Gallery Primo Alonso is a new space in London's East End and Matsunaga¹s show
will be their first one-person presentation. The artist-run not-for profit
gallery is located on Hackney Road within close proximity to Bethnal Green and
the galleries of Vyner Street. The directors at the helm are Angelica Sule,
Paul Murphy and Richard Gallagher.
Private view 22nd March 6-9 pm
Gallery Primo Alonso
395-397 Hackney Road - London