YOSHISHIGE FURUKAWA

In Yoshishige Furakawa’s Sound 1-10, the artist explores what he has called the “relationship between the physical shape and the mental reaction.” He compares the process of building an image with the act of passing through the world, observing the forms and spaces around him. In one instance, he explains: “When I am out walking, I may see a road, a construction site, working people, a tree, or the sky, and I try to incorporate the feeling of these visual things in my work.” Drawing from the memory of these scenes, the artist creates fields of textural color inhabited by planar shapes of solid color, evoking a unique mix of geometry and gesture.

Embarking on the series of lithographs: Sound 1-10, Furukawa first made rubbings of rough surfaces, and transferred them to plates. The artist then printed two or three colors for the background of each Sound composition. In each print in the series, he builds a unique color field to serve as a habitat for the geometric forms. In Sound 1, a contrapposto light blue form shimmies in front of an aquatic field, while a small ochre form rocks gently on the lower edge, and a black semicircle moves up the righthand side. In Sound 4, a bright orange background asserts itself almost in front of the planar earth color shapes. The variation continues with each print in the series, where Furukawa plays with color and shape. Sound 9 uses black lines to suggest an architectural space, as if the lines were forming a scaffolding in advance of the planar forms that emerge from the field.

In talking further about his work, Furukawa suggests a relationship between the senses akin to synesthesia, where one sensation evokes a concurrent sensation. As he walks through the city, he observes: “I ponder the relationship between the physical shape and the mental reaction. Other factors include the weather or conditions affected by time, body, or even the sound of the wind.” It is this last observation, about the “sound of the wind” that sheds light on Furukawa’s ability to conjure myriad worlds for us to move through and contemplate.

– Andrew Mockler

BIOGRAPHY

1921 – 2008 FURUOKA, JAPAN

Yoshishige Furukawa earned his BFA in painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1943. He moved to the United States in 1963 and spent subsequent decades between the United States and Japan.

He has had numerous solo exhibitions including at the Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (1992 and 2015); Condeso-Lawler Gallery, New York, NY; Osaka’s National Museum, Japan; Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY and many more. He is included in the permanent collections of the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; Osaka National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, the Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; The Ohara Museum, Kurashiki, Japan; the Saitama Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan; the Saga Prefectural Art Museum, Saga, Japan; The Roland Gibson Art Museum, New Hampshire and many more collections. He was a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation award (1990 and 1997).

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