Minol Araki: Nature in Ink
Past exhibitions exhibition
Overview
Erik Thomsen Gallery is delighted to announce a second New York exhibition of paintings by Minol Araki (1928-2010).
Born in Manchuria to Japanese parents, Araki painted throughout his long life, starting at the age of three. His successful public career as an industrial designer enabled him to pursue brush painting in private, as an essential aspect of a refined, fruitful, and complete life. He was the inheritor of a venerable tradition, with deep roots in both China and Japan, in which the practice of art is wholly independent of commercial gain or professional ambition.
In contrast to our 2012 solo show that featured Araki's landscape compositions, on this occasion we focus on his paintings of fish, fruit, and flowers, mostly dating from the second half of the 1970s. No less than his landscapes, these works show his masterful use of ink and creative transformation by influences from China, Japan, and the West.
Araki rarely exhibited during his lifetime, but his paintings are now in the permanent collections of 15 museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
I am thrilled to have been given this second opportunity to share Araki's art, which I find breathtaking in its mastery, subtlety, and beauty.
A fully illustrated catalogue, with an essay on Minol Araki by Professor Claudia Brown of Arizona State University, accompanies the exhibition.