Ryosuke Hara: Char and Starry Sky
Beijing
2nd.Mar - 7th. Apr. 2024
Ryosuke Hara: Char and Starry Sky
Ryosuke Hara: Char and Starry Sky
Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Ryosuke Hara grew up in an environment close to mountain streams and rivers, where catching fish in the streams was his childhood pastime. The char here are timid and usually hide behind rocks, only peeking out at the starry sky when no one is around at night. On the other hand, the trout is agile and has been beloved by the Japanese since ancient times, revered as the "queen of the streams." These childhood memories continue to influence Ryosuke Hara's creations, reflecting the playful and free-spirited nature in his works.
Several years ago, Ryosuke Hara was captivated by a drawing by the renowned Japanese monk Myoe Shonin at the Miho Museum in Shiga. Myoe Shonin was famous for his nightly recordings of dreams in "Dream Records," but such illustrated works were extremely rare. The water bottle in the drawing is said to represent Kannon or Maitreya Bodhisattva, and to explore what the white light flowing out of the bottle symbolized, Ryosuke Hara created the "White Light of Myoe" series in succession. In the white light part of the painting, he did not use pigments but rather removed the existing canvas to reveal its presence in places where it should not exist. For the theme of the water bottle, he chose ancient pots fired in local kilns such as Ontayaki and Naeshirogawa to present. These materials from the land and the simple pottery fired for local life are also part of Japan's nature and climate, providing him with an opportunity to rethink the Japanese perception of nature and art.
Myoe Shonin established Kosho-ji Temple on Mt. Takao in Kyoto in 1206, where he spent most of his life in the mountains, living a rich and rigorous life in nature as a monk. Kosho-ji Temple houses national treasures such as "Birds and Animals at Play" and "Tree-Seated Meditation Images," as well as masterpieces of animal carvings such as divine deer and Eukyong. These works perfectly embody Japan's views on nature, religion, and art. Thus, under various circumstances, Ryosuke Hara's personal memories overlap with historical experiences, ultimately incarnating in his creations of the daily minutiae of the sun, moon, and stars, and the swimming fish and plants; while people are elusive among nature, cycling with them between this world, the present world, and the afterlife.
Ryosuke Hara，He born in Kanagawa, Japan by 1975. He graduated from Tama Art University, MFA in 2002. Now he lives in Tokyo.
