Naoko Shohi
NEW TALENT:
Naoko Shohi
‘On the Globe’ 2011
‘Summer Holiday Memorial’ 2011
‘Back to the Ground’ 2011
NEW TALENT: Naoko Shohi
‘On the Globe’ 2011
‘Summer Holiday Memorial’ 2011
‘Back to the Ground’ 2011
Right to left. All works acrylic on canvas.
New Talent presents new work by young artists from the North-East of England, including recent graduates from the universities in the region.
Naoko Shohi is a Japanese painter whose work combines the bold colours and graphic cut-out forms of manga cartoons, with a delicate melancholy. Both the Japanese and English traditions of painting are renown for their use of watercolour, and Shohi adapts parts of both traditions to create something entirely new. Famously, watercolour requires exceptional skill and dexterity, as mistakes can never be erased or painted over. Creating a watercolour is, therefore, akin to a musical performance where no mark or gesture cannot be undone.
Shohi’s magical scenes often include human beings and animals in unexpected or even surreal combinations. In one of her other works, titled ‘Whales in Tokyo City’, we see exactly that: giant blue whales floating like zeppelins over an endless sea of tower blocks. The whales turn their eyes out to us, and, surprised to see us catching their eye, look back accusingly. It is as though we were impudent enough to challenge their authority on the planet, despite being only a fraction of their size.
