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87-1-16

NEGISHI Yoshiro

1987

An expansion of colors like an aurora floating in space. Red, blue, purple, and yellow. Overlapping, the colors form new colors. Transparent colors, almost like light itself no longer a solid substance called paint tremble with the rhythms of dark and light. Although measuring over five meters in width, this work is not the least bit overbearing. The layers of transparent colors create depth and entice us into a space filled with light flickering in the breeze. If we approach the painting and slowly follow the color changes with our eyes, we lose our sense of distance and feel ourselves released from the spatial order of our daily existence. Negishi went to the United States in the 1970s and found himself empathizing strongly with the paintings of Mark Rothko and Morris Louis. At the same time, he was profoundly impressed by the rich, deep space of the Chinese Sung Dynasty monochrome ink paintings and works by Tohaku Hasegawa and Sotatsu Tawaraya in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Whether in Rothko's abstract paintings or Tohaku's monochrome ink paintings, the depth of space created differs totally from the stationary world of Western scientific perspective. Like Rothko and Tohaku, Negishi pursues an ever-changing space that permits free and subjective fantasy. The special character of his paintings lies in the subtle expression of color that lets us realize these fantasies.