Sakan Kanno "component"

Maki Fine Arts is pleased to present "component," a solo exhibition by Sakan Kanno starting Saturday, September 6, 2014. Born in 1970, Kanno is known for producing detailed abstract paintings full of contours. "component" not only celebrates Kanno's first solo show with Maki Fine Arts but also the 10-year anniversary since the artist's first solo exhibition "trace" presented at weissfeld-Roentgenwerke in Roppongi.

Kanno's distinctive style begins with applying urethane paint to the base to bring luster to the surface and then using super fine brushes and acrylic paint to create contours full of movement. The contrast between the uniform and industrial shimmer on the surface and the mat texture generated from the acrylic paint creates depth in the artwork. On the canvas used as the support medium and in the design composition, the artist uses silver ratio, a concept used often in Japan since ancient times, which results in a final product having a precious glow reminiscent of rinpa-school art, yamato-e, and maki-e.

In recent years, Kanno has minimized the use of improvisational depictions and instead uses a set format for his creative process. The artist uses geometrically-composed grids as the base and then creates the design by assembling the elements, such as clusters drawn using a French curve or snippets of lines picked from trimmings of past drawings. In the upcoming show, instead of treating each element as well as the individual divided canvases simply as an interchangeable module, the artist treats the components as having completeness, independence, and autonomy.