Hikari

Yoshiko and Shintaro Nakahara are a diminutive husband and wife team of Japanese descent who produce unique, highly detailed collaborative artworks. Their forthcoming exhibition entitled Hikari, which means “light, is a metaphor for the revelations explicit or implicit in the taking of a mutual journey.

While both artists have degrees in fine art (from the Musashino Art University, Tokyo, 2000 and the Tama Art University, Tokyo,1995 respectively) it was initially Yoshiko’s very detailed and imaginative ink on paper works which brought her to prominence as an immense talent.

Using the finest 0.5mm pen, her drawings are so intricate and detailed that it is impossible to imagine them having been produced without the aid of a magnifying glass. The extent and depth of mark making is so intense and infinite that the works spill over from mere representations of natural phenomena such as leaves, branches and foliage to a very personal realm verging on the obsessive.

Yoshiko transforms the flat surface by the use of prosaic forms using a single colour into artworks of incomprehensible beauty. This engagement with the flat surface and minute filling and marking of space means a single work can take anything up to two months to complete.

While Yoshiko’s talent lies in the intricate skill of her draughtsmanship and infinite attention to detail, Shintaro’s talent lies in his ability to mix rich colour formations to suggest different planes of reality simultaneously, such as night and day; the deep depths of water and verdant states of spring; the dullness of winter with the intense hues of summer.

Although they describe themselves as independent artists, with unique thoughts, hopes and styles, their collaborative works signal, for them, the emergence of a “third artist”, where their respective practices combine to produce singular works which remain distinct entities in themselves. Yoshiko’s very fine drawing providing the base for Shintaro’s acidic, strident colour formations - together eliciting contrasts of striking beauty, depth and dimension.

In collaboration they are a powerful force of talent which the art world has only just begun to appreciate.

Event listed by Sanderson

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