A Sublime Presence

I paint the entire canvas by hand with a paintbrush, and the materials I use to complete a work include paint colors, lacquer, salt, and gold dust. As it is a three-dimensional painting, I hope you will enjoy the feature that it has a different appearance depending on the angle from which you are looking.
I create contours by adding multiple layers of color one after another, and by painting in a style where I intentionally leave wild, intense brushstrokes, I give the painting surface a deep and sublime presence.
While also including some Western elements, I focus on creating artworks with an exceptionally Japanese inspiration.

 

A painting which grows and matures

As materials such as lacquer, salt, gold dust, and plaster are used in the artwork, it continues to breathe even after it has dried and hardened. It goes through a process of gradual transformation as it comes into contact with the air and with light. We can say this artwork at the present moment is in one sense unfinished. It will continue to grow and develop from now onward.
My approach is not to hide the cracks formed due to “Unique Aging” but rather to give them emphasis and treat them as a vital part of the artwork.
An exquisite beauty fully brought out by the passing of time / The pursuit of beauty through transformation / Some moments to enjoy the changes and maturing in an artwork / Imagining its future appearance
...These can never be conveyed or savored in the digital world. What exactly will this artwork look like ten years, a hundred years, or even a thousand years from now? If we imagine that we can continue to enjoy an artwork almost indefinitely as it becomes more profound, more sublime, as it grows, as it matures, we can surely say that such an artwork possesses an unfathomable appeal.

 五十嵐 伽藍

-Garan Igarashi-


Painter/Artist

 

 

 Japanese Traditional Sense of Beauty 

 

I am especially fond of the culture and old techniques handed down over generations in Japan, and there is always a special place in my heart where our Japanese unique sense of beauty lies.
Lacquerware, a traditional craft product, takes on a vivid brightness and its exquisite beauty grows with the passing of time. In the case of ceramic ware, it also takes years for crazing (surface cracks) to gradually emerge.
A culture to enjoy such “nurturing” of artworks exists in Japan. When I paint, my aim is to instill in my work a full expression of this traditional Japanese sense of beauty.

 

 

 

GALLERY