Yoko Matsumoto, 90, Shows How Canvas and Paint Move Her to Paint
Creatrip Team
a month ago
Yoko Matsumoto, a 90-year-old Japanese abstract painter, is holding a solo exhibition, "Placed in the Gaze of Nature," at White Cube Seoul. A pioneer who blends Western abstract color sensibilities with the spatial calm of East Asian ink painting (sumi-e), Matsumoto says she feels moved by the canvas and paint rather than by preconceived ideas. Her breakthrough came after visiting New York in 1967 and discovering US abstract artists; later, acrylics gave her a sense of liberation and allowed her to layer colors to create misty, depth-filled surfaces. The show spans 40 years of work, from early pieces in her ‘Pink’ series to restrained ‘White’ works and more recent ‘Blue’ oil paintings made after she shifted from floor-based, physically intense painting to working on easels due to strain. She describes her process as a vigorous performance that follows the canvas’s ‘‘command,’’ often discarding many attempts to find a single satisfying piece. Matsumoto asks viewers not to force grand meanings onto her work but to enjoy it—even to dance before it. The exhibition runs at White Cube Seoul through August 14. (sumi-e: traditional East Asian ink wash painting)
