Face to the Green by Kana Kou

Facts

Material

Oil pastel and crayon on paper mounted on panel

Size

110 x 180 cm

Description

Kana Kou draws details from the landscape based on her own bodily experience. She climbs mountains and dives in the ocean, and both the physical sensation and visual memory of these experiences are translated through her works on paper. The resulting works are calm and meditative, and demand to be taken in with the slowness of walking up a mountain path or moving through salt water. In Face to the Green, it is as if Kou has noted all the varieties of plant viewed on a long walk, and re-composed them together in impossible proximity.

The result is dazzling, and brings out the small differences between each plant's colour, shape and texture. To generate the extensive range of green tones, Kou melts down pastels and mixes her own colours, before re-pouring and creating her own customised pastel sticks.

Location

Tokyo