Abstractions in Blue: Works from the Wise Collection

June 19 - January 11, 2014
Japanese Gallery

Above: Morioka, Kansuke, Japanese, born 1941, 82 - 5N, 1982, A.P, photo serigraph, 17.75 x 23.75 inches (image), 21.5 x 29 inches (sheet), Gift of Kansuke Morioka via The Wise Collection, 2011.389

This exhibition honors a generous gift from Joanne and Douglas Wise of artworks by Japanese artists, active in the 1970s-80s, who viewed Japanese culture from a western perspective with modernist ideals. Like their western counterparts, most of these artists were art-school trained and aimed to express their personal truths and visions. The works on view show the influence of Western media and contemporary inspirational sources. As seen in the selected works, several of these artists reveled in the use of the color blue when creating abstract, avant-garde works. While the works do not look typically Japanese at first glance, their high level of technical skill and pioneering explorations of space, subtle gradations and quirky humor harmonize with traditional Japanese aesthetics.

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