ARTIST PROFILE 01

FRANK STELLA

Born in Boston, May 12, 1936. One of the leading post-war American minimalist abstract painters. Famously known for painted and sculpted works alike. Minimal art is a form of minimalist visual expression in which decorative and expository elements are removed to the greatest extent possible, leaving simple colors and forms that eschew complexity. The artist’s early work involved symmetrical pieces featuring simple stripes and other forms. Beginning in the 1980s, the work underwent major thematic changes, with a wide range of colors being incorporated, twisted planes, and works that seem to burst from the canvas and go beyond the conventions of two dimensional artwork. The result is a dynamic oeuvre that straddles the space between painting and sculpture.

ARTIST PROFILE 02

YUTAKA ONO

Garden Designer, Plant & Spatial Designer Ono has been involved in gardens, landscapes, mountain restoration, plant scenography, and plant art. He designs plants based on the principles of nature, expressing the mythology and culture of the land, and interlinking the home, garden, town, and mountain to create a “place” where not only human beings but also other living creatures can coexist. In “Aonagi”, the entrance side represents the landscape of the Seto Inland Sea, while the garden on the opposite side is planted with trees that will be staying for another 500 years, even though they are in competition of space with each other. This garden is a “contrast between far and near” and also expresses the “contrast of time axis”.

nc-hifumi.com

ARTIST PROFILE 03

RIEKO KAWABE

Organizer of Nihon Miyabigoto Club and Nipponya Kobo. Calligrapher and visual artist. Launched the Nihon Miyagi Club in 1995 in Tokyo and Kyoto as a site for the promotion and advocation of traditional Japanese culture and art. Also operates the Nipponya Kobo, a laboratory that presents items made with Japanese materials and by the hands of traditional Japanese artisans. In 2004, she launched the Miyabigoto Japanese Culture Exchange Fund, a project that shares Japanese culture, in particular calligraphy, with children worldwide. This initiative involves international exchanges and workshops for children. Under the name Kototama, the artist’s own work involves traditional Japanese techniques and aesthetic styles inflected by her experience as a Shinto priest.
www.miyabigoto.com