Minami Kobayashi – Bridging Tradition and Contemporary in a Hybrid World
Emerging Artist Series
MINAMI KOBAYASHI - THE SONG OF JUJUBES
When: Sept 18 - Nov 2, 2024
Where: Frestonian Gallery London
Reviewed by: Hilary Tsui
At my first encounter with Minami Kobayashi work at ASIA NOW in Paris, I knew I was looking at something promising and special. Her work is a smooth and very skilful mesh of traditional eastern painting style with contemporary western elements, creating a distinct aesthetic.
Work Style and Influences
Looking at Minami’s oeuvre, they clearly show traditional Japanese painting philosophy and technique, featuring nature, landscapes and human activities as themes. As to her painting technique, she uses bold, sweeping outlines, flat surfaces, and a muted color scheme to create ranges of colors, almost like creating a harmonious monochromatic ink painting with colors. All these reveal her solid training in traditional Japanese painting.
A quick fact check with the artist confirmed the above. Minami loves Japanese woodblock prints, 18th century Japanese paintings, as well as old Korean and Chinese paintings. It was her clear intention to create a contemporary style of this traditional art form, as a way to preserve the contemporary life for future generations. At the same time, those familiar with western art history would pick up on the influences of the Fauvists and Les Nabis in her work.
“The Song of Jujubes” – A milestone series
In her current major solo exhibition “The Song of Jujubes”, Minami has reflected on the notion of “home” and created new works that trace back to some major moments in her life that “span three continents and several decades”. While the title is a song that Minami used to sing as a 14 year-old in the Chorus Club in Nagoya, when she had no idea what life would have in store for her, it provides us a point of departure of her very personal reflection. Having moved from Japan, to the US, then migrated to London, inevitably, there were many goodbyes, soul searching, and new beginnings, combined with lots of complicated emotions.
These piled-up emotions are definitely visible in the new series. One can sense the heightened sentiments in both the depiction of themes and the choice of colors. Minami has moved on to use bolder and much more expressive color palettes to convey what each memory means to her, be it melancholic or extremely heartfelt. Also, the places and items being depicted provide some context for viewers to walk down the memory lane together with her. Some of the paintings are easier to decipher, some are more cryptic.
Let’s start with the obvious one, Art class in 2004, 2024”, a girl in school uniform, clearly a self-portrait, when the artist was a young girl, sitting in front of a canvas, surrounded by oversized plaster statues, vases of all sizes, and special emotional items, like the teddy on the shelf and the dachshund which clearly shared a close bond with the school girl.
Although it seemed to be taken from a random day scene, the painting is actually a condensed recollection of the art classes Miniami took from age 3 to 15. The room being depicted is an important place where she developed her artist identity. Minami filled up half of the shelf space with her teacher’s objects, and half with her favorite objects, including the repaired vase from Toro and the Karura statue, a half bird half-human god from Buddhism tales. The whole painting is in bright red, symbolizing extremely intense emotions. For Minami, red symbolizes something personal and close to her heart.
Another piece of intense emotion is “Girlfriends in the snow garden, 2024”. It is winter time, snow is falling, two figures embracing each other tightly, one cannot really tell if it is an embrace of reunion or if they are saying goodbye. The blue palette and the winterly landscape could provide some context. The 2 figures are put in the center, yet they are painted quite small, almost submerged into the surrounding, somewhat alluding to a distant memory.
“A dragonfly butterfly in the rock garden, 2024” takes on a similar tone as the former piece with an added layer of suspense, as the artist has incorporated quite a few hidden references: “The rock garden” in the title refers to the rock garden in the Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto. John Cage has made celebrated works about this place, including 4’33” and the Ryoaji series. Minimi was inspired by Cage’s works to paint the temple.
Another key reference in the painting is the flipped mask on the floor. This mask is used in Noh theather, a classical Japanese dance theater. This specific mask is called Wakaonna mask, representing a young beautiful woman. Why was the flipped Wakaonna mask dropped upside down on the floor? Look further to the right, more questions ensue: Who and why is that person lying flat on the wooden floor? What does the dragonfly symbolize and what is it doing on the person's toe? The artist seems to prefer to leave it all up to our imagination.
Another piece that takes on a mysterious tone is “Miro’s Solar Bird and two trees, the sun card and the moon 2024”. It is a breath-taking piece, yet in Minami’s usual low-key style. The painting again draws references from different places and times in the artist's labyrinth of memories. At first glance, the picture looks calm, warm and cold color tones mixed together harmoniously. Look more intently, the contrasting details start to emerge:
The Miro's Sculpture from the Fondation Maeght in France is taking the center stage, sitting firmly on a western stone pedestal, which is supported by a long, firm, meticulously-painted stone wall. This wall is actually from the Nagoya Castle in Japan, the artist’s hometown. Look closer, there are trees from Japan on the right mixed with those from the west. Slowly, our eyes catch on and see the girl wearing a Furisode Kimono, which is worn by unmarried women in Japan. The girl is kneeled down, staring at the ghostly bird and placing cards on the Japanese stone wall at the same time. All these are like riddles that added layers of mystery.
What is clear is that Minami has quietly thrown in many contrasting elements in this piece: the moon versus the sun; the trees and stones from Japan and France were put together almost seamlessly. Despite the contrasts of all these details, they are co-existing harmoniously.
“Adversity Builds Character”
In this exhibition, Minami has shared with us some very personal sentiments in the course of developing her artist career to date. We know the path to become an international artist is no easy feat. Leaving hometown in Japan and moving to different countries to pursue an art career surely brought many challenges, but all these experiences have also enriched her canvases immensely.
This new series of works have especially shown great maturity: the skilful composition meshing tradition and contemporary; the intricate color palettes blended and painted to perfection; her quiet but clear pursue of perfection; and her genuine and masterful depiction of complex emotions that transpire through the canvas and connect with ours. (HT)
Minami Kobayashi was born in Nagoya/Japan in 1989 and is currently based in London. She holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (2018) and a BFA in Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts (2016). Minami has been widely exhibited in Japan, the USA and the UK since 2011.
Minami Kobayashi
Five pelicans over the Pacific beach, 2024
oil on linen. 210 x 230 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Frestonian Gallery
Minami Kobayashi
Art class in 2004, 2024
Oil on linen. 180 x 180 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Frestonian Gallery
Minami Kobayashi
A dragonfly butterfly in the rock garden, 2024
oil on Canvas. 180 x 180 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Frestonian Gallery
Minami Kobayashi
Girlfriends in the snow garden, 2024
Oil on Canvas. 100 x 100 cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Frestonian Gallery
Minami Kobayashi
Miro's Solar Bird and two trees, the sun card and the moon, 2024
Oil on canvas. 210 x 230 cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Frestonian Gallery
