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<p>REIKO KUBOTA INTRODUCTION</p>
<p>‘Reiko Kubota: Beyond the Surface’</p>
<p>Reiko Kubota’s paintings locate us within a space that is both upon and
beyond the surface. Exploring new methods of constructing forms and ways of
inventing with materials deeply rooted in the history of painting, Kubota creates
images which, while non-referential, are also based on the experiences of things
seen. The work is a crystallization of the observed world presented in forms
which seek to distil the essence of those visual stimuli.</p>
<p>Colour is related to materials, the rich palette derived from the earth, organic
materials and semi precious stones which compose the pigments that are the basis
for the paintings. What we see is the surface reflection of light, a spectrum
reflected by the varying qualities of the pigments used to create the images,
some course and crystalline, others fine, smooth and matt; all evoking a presence
and sense of immediacy. Reiko Kubota seeks to build on the intrinsic qualities
and properties of these pigments so no mixing of colours is involved. Rather,
the accretion of colour through the building of each image in varying degrees
of complexity, with fragments of space defined through the pigments chosen resulting
in the building of each image over time. And it requires time to live with and
appreciate the complex and seemingly changing surface as the eye scans each
image. </p>
<p>While often intimate in scale these paintings can appear to traverse expanses
of space or invoke a sensation of depth and a three-dimensional quality to the
forms contained. Recent works play with this sense of location, spanning more
than one panel (‘Light and Dusk’), painted from both behind and in
front of the stretched paper (‘Coloured Shades’), inventing with the
frame as a part of the image (‘SkyTree’). The reflection of light
and its location upon and within the picture surface is invented with in the
use of gold leaf. This is a constructive use of the metal, imparting another
dimension to the reading of the images, both reinforcing and breaking down our
sense of where the surface really exists and the nature of light as contained
within a painting. </p>
<p>By day the paintings change their character with varying light; by night the
pigments and gold resonate to a different tune, reflecting an almost other worldly
presence in the moon’s glow (‘Yukimi’). The use of oil glazes
in some images, or across certain elements within a piece (‘Order &
Dissonance’), intensifies the perception of colours and offers further
layers of reading, depth and luminosity. </p>
<p>There is also a play with order and dissonance, allusions to insights gained
through early polyphonic and 20th century music. Resonances are also to be seen
with woven form and the elaborate tessellations to be found in Islamic art,
expanding our sense and comprehension of space (‘In Being’). These
paintings offer a view into a world beyond the surface; an insight into the
stimulation and invention of an artist born in the East and living in the West.</p>
<p>CURRICULUM VITAE</p>
<p>Born 1962 Tokyo, Japan. Currently lives and works in London</p>
<p>EXHIBITIONS</p>
<p>1991 ‘Art Construct’<br>
Basel Kunstmesse, SWITZERLAND</p>
<p>‘A Second Perspective’<br>
Leighton House, London, UK</p>
<p>‘IDAC – Konkrete Kunst International’<br>
Zoetermeer, HOLLAND</p>
<p>1993 ‘Aspects Actueles de la Mouvance Construit Internationale Editions-Magazines’
<br>
Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image Imprimée, La Louvière,
BELGIUM</p>
<p>‘Partners’<br>
Annely Juda Fine Art, London, UK</p>
<p>1994 ‘Whitechapel Open’ <br>
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK</p>
<p>1995 ‘IDAC - Konkrete Kunst International’<br>
Whilhelm-Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, GERMANY;<br>
Museum’t Coopmanshûs, Franeker, HOLLAND.</p>
<p>1996 ‘Translations’ <br>
Norwich Gallery, Norwich, UK;<br>
Reed’s Wharf Gallery, London, UK.</p>
<p>‘Jubiläumsausstellung der Galerie 1986 bis 1996’<br>
ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zürich, SWITZERLAND</p>
<p>1997 Galerie Emilia Suciu <br>
Ettlingen, GERMANY</p>
<p>‘Immerzeit’ <br>
Erfurt, GERMANY</p>
<p>1998 The Attlee Foundation Charity Exhibition<br>
The Royal College of Art </p>
<p>Contemporary Art Exhibition<br>
Stephen Lacey Gallery, London, UK</p>
<p>1999 ‘Chronologic’ <br>
Gallery Art, Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA<br>
<br>
‘Pure Abstract Art’ <br>
Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, HOLLAND</p>
<p>‘Constructive Art in Europe’<br>
Galerie Emilia Suciu, Etlingen, GERMANY</p>
<p> Group Summer Exhibition<br>
Stephen Lacey Gallery, London, UK </p>
<p>2000 ‘Coloured Thoughts’<br>
Slade Gallery, University College London, UK</p>
<p>‘Mondiale Echo’s’ <br>
Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoot, HOLLAND</p>
<p>‘Kompakt, Konkret, Konstruktiv’ <br>
Dringenberg, GERMANY</p>
<p>2001 ‘Small is Beautiful’<br>
Flowers East Gallery, London, UK</p>
<p>2002 ‘Voyage’ <br>
Flowers East Gallery, London, UK</p>
<p>‘Kompakt, Konkret, Konstruktiv’’<br>
Galerie Sztuki Wspolczesnej MNS;<br>
Museum Narodowego, Szczecin, POLAND.</p>
<p>2003 ‘War and Peace’ <br>
Flowers Central Gallery, London, UK</p>
<p>2004 Prince’s Drawing School, Shorditch, London</p>
<p>2006 Gallerie Emilia Suciu, Ettlingen, GERMANY</p>
<p></p>
<p>COLLECTIONS</p>
<p>Museum Ritter, Germany</p>
<p>All Nippon Airways, London, UK.</p>
<p>Work represented in public and private collections in Europe and Japan. </p>
<p><br>
BIBLIOGRAPHY</p>
<p>Immerzeit<br>
ACP Viviane Ehrli Galerie, Zürich 1996</p>
<p>Translations<br>
Text: Nathan Cohen<br>
Norwich Gellery, Norwich 1996</p>
<p>Partners<br>
Annely Juda Fine Art, London 1993 </p>
<p>REIKO KUBOTA on MATERIALS and METHODS</p>
<p>On Methods and Materials.</p>
<p>The use of materials and the image constructed are intimately related. One
informs the other and in turn choices made for how to make paintings are informed
by the experiences gained of working with different materials. All materials
have their own properties and character. </p>
<p>I am interested in the behaviour of pigments, as materials rather than colour
variations. I value the individuality of the materials so I do not mix colours.
The notion that what the eye recognises as colours are the refractions of light
from different surfaces of materials – pigments, I find meaningful, but
that interest also has to find a balance with using colours in terms of their
colour values (hues) when constructing an image. </p>
<p>Research and experimentation with how pigments work in different media has
informed the choices I have made over the years. Some pigments are coarse, some
spread evenly or are brittle, smooth, transparent or opaque. Certain colours
have strong tinting qualities while others barely note their presence. When
painting, all these properties are important and inform the choices to be made.</p>
<p>Oil Glazing </p>
<p>I first experienced the luminosity of colour that can be achieved through glazing
when studying this Western technique of oil painting, which has been influential
in the development of my own painting.</p>
<p>An oil glaze may include turpentine, stand oil and damar varnish in different
proportions, creating a treacle like medium into which the oil paint is mixed.
The intensity of the glaze can be affected by adding more or less oil paint
to the medium, and by applying one or more layers. Given that most glazes are
relatively transparent, all the details of the painting remain visible (detail
from ‘Beyond the Surface’). It is like painting with liquid coloured
glass. Light is refracted, entering the eye of the viewer having travelled through
the successive transparent layers. The result is great luminosity and richness
of colour and offers a means for the artist to transform perceptions of colour
and space within the picture plane (detail from ‘Square Random’).
Another advantage of this process is that it can also be combined with other
painting media.</p>
<p>Tempera</p>
<p>First you take an egg. Then you carefully separate the yolk from the egg white,
prick the sac and pour the soft yellow contents into a small dish. To this you
add the pigment and a little water. Stir well and paint. But be sure that you
have also prepared a gesso ground, rich in chalk and glue size, layered patiently
to create a smooth white, reflective and properly absorbent surface. Then, with
soft brushes and a light touch (picture of brushes) the tempera paint is drawn
from the fibres and leaves a brilliant permanent mark. (‘Triptych Untitled
II 1997’ Ref:10-01-07.) </p>
<p>Tempera painting is quite unlike oil painting although, as with glazing, different
pigments display varying properties which have a direct impact on the consistency
of the paint. There is an immediacy and the need to be clear and accurate in
the application of each brush stroke. Before the Renaissance this was the medium
of choice, and when we look at the paintings of the early Renaissance we can
see how oil colour first came to be applied as glazes over tempera painting.
This is a technique I continue to explore, enjoying the intensive build up of
colours the process affords. As tempera lends itself to refined articulation,
it provides an interesting and contrasting basis for glazing with oil, which
produces the intensity and luminosity of the colours that I seek to achieve
( ‘Dazzler 1995’ ). And it all begins with an egg.</p>
<p>Pigments, Paper and Glue</p>
<p>I am interested in historical palettes. We are now used to walking into an
art shop and being presented with a burgeoning spectrum of colours. Choices
were far more limited in previous centuries and required that the artist invent
differently within the limited resources to create their visions of the world.
With red and yellow ochres, chalk white and charcoal black sourced mostly locally,
additions included copper for green/blue, ground semi precious stones, plant
and insect extracts (picture of pigments). Some of these colours remain brilliant
over time, while others are fugitive, leaving barely a trace of their existence
after the passage of centuries.</p>
<p>Different grounds offer further opportunities for invention and experimentation
with colour. Paper can be incredibly strong and its translucent properties allow
for play with the location of the painted image. In recent works I have explored
painting on both sides of the paper before gluing it to panels for stability
and continuing the painting process. There is an intrinsic beauty to fine paper
which enables the unpainted surface to have meaning as space within an image
rather than being a void (picture of papers). The matt surface of some papers
also creates an interesting contrast to the reflective properties of gold leaf
(picture of gold leaf).</p>
<p>Glue size, which can be made from different materials such as animal hide,
bone extracts and plant starch can also be used to bind pigments directly. The
technique I use requires that a glue of the correct strength is prepared and
kept warm while pigment is added to it and then applied thinly. Layering becomes
possible when the paint is diluted with plenty of water so long as care is taken
not to build up the surface too much, as this will result in a dulling of the
colours. There is an immediacy in this way of painting and bold applications
of colour work well (‘Order and Dissonance’).</p>
<p>Gold</p>
<p>In my work gold is used to describe or indicate light. Just as light changes
so does the reflection of light from the surface of the paintings, subtle variations
in the application of the gold leaf further enhancing this visual experience.
In the painting ‘Yukimi’ gold is the sunlight shining through snow
covered leaves of trees in a snowscape. In another work ‘Sky Tree’,
trees and flowers are depicted against a clear sky in the sun, the light being
rendered as gold. When gold leaf is applied to the back of thin Japanese paper
it also provides some reflection of light back through the colour and the paper
itself, playing with the question of where the surface truly resides and shifting
perceptions of opacity and translucency of materials.</p>
<p>CONTACT</p>
<p>contact@reikokubota.com</p>
<p>All contents ae copyright of Riko Kubota and authors.</p>
<p>All rights reserved.</p>
<p>Web design: Jenni Sato at Beyond All Passion</p>
<p>jenni@beyondallpassion.co.uk</p>
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