"A Solo Exhibition" - Paintings by Yumie Kono

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"Dempster Highway"

Yumie Kono, "Dempster Highway," 2010, Tempera on Linen, 42" x 24".

Opening Reception Friday, June 27, 3 - 6pm

Meet the Artist - Yumie Kono will be in attendance

A selection of oil and tempera on linen paintings by Yumie Kono in her first solo exhibition at Art Beatus (Vancouver).

"As a Japanese woman, the mythical Canadian North remains a mysterious and unknown place. I am particularly drawn to Northern mountains, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, plants, and wild animals. For me, the North offers an outer landscape that is in dialogue with my inner landscape." – Yumie Kono

Different artists have different motivations for the work they produce. For Yumie Kono, the motivating arc that spans a large portion of her body of work is the search for what she calls “Genfukei” which she explains as “…an occurrence when our inner landscape and [our] outer landscape are recognized as one and the same.” From her travels to northern Canada, Kono finds both external and internal inspiration from the landscape on which the paintings in this exhibition are based.

It is in these paintings that Kono’s inner and outer landscapes intersect which not only achieves “Genfukei” but they do so in a serene and meditative way that goes beyond the surface of the paintings themselves. Kono’s technique of layering translucent paint with repetitive cross lines, which produce a delicate gossamer-like quality such as in Seeking Dream (2010), and her choice of colour, reminiscent of that of the northern Canadian landscape during the warmer seasons like in Dempster Highway (2010), are the results of her thoughtful approach to her work which in turn gives rise to the depth and complexity of these paintings.

Yumie Kono was born in Hiroshima and raised in Matsue, Shimane, Japan. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Joshi Bijutu Daigaku Women’s College of Fine Arts in Tokyo then moved to Canada and studied lithography at Banff School of Fine Art and etching at the University of Victoria. In 1981, she eventually settled in Victoria, BC where she still currently resides.

For more information, please visit www.artbeatus.com or call the gallery at 1 (604) 688-2633.