Whitestone Gallery
I went to Miwa Komatsu’s solo exhibition, held to coincide with Whitestone Gallery’s 50th anniversary and the opening of its new building. On November 23rd, Labor Thanksgiving Day, when the show was already well into its run, every single exhibited work had sold out! Well, that certainly took me by surprise…
Miwa Komatsu
I’d had the impression that Miwa Komatsu mostly produced large-scale works, but this solo show also featured many comparatively small pieces. The selling price was roughly “66,000 yen per go (canvas size unit),” so even a small work of about 3 go went for 200,000 yen—quite a price tag indeed.
The gallery, where the hunt was already over, was deserted even on a holiday, but I made peace with it and looked on the bright side—it actually let me view everything at a leisurely pace. Photography was allowed too, so I enjoyed it to my heart’s content.
The Works
Miwa Komatsu is an artist whose image tends to precede her, but looking closely at the works you can make out the traces of a very delicate, meticulous craft.
The fine dots and lines and their painting are impressive in themselves, but what astonishes is her deftly controlled sense of color.
Colors in combinations that conventional sensibilities could hardly manage—gold and silver, pink and pale blue—are arranged with a strangely good balance.
Within the exhibition too, you could sense a mindfulness of balance, along with the admirable challenge of deliberately shifting direction, which I found appealing.
Because I was viewing quietly on my own, I got to chat with the gallery staff about all sorts of things. Miwa Komatsu is an artist exclusive to Whitestone Gallery, so it seems there will be chances to encounter different works of hers in this very place going forward.
Dragons and komainu guardian lion-dogs were displayed here and there, giving the place the feel of a power spot.
Conclusion
As she’s a popular artist, sales appeared to be going extremely smoothly.
At the same time, every work was made properly and with sincerity, and I felt they were of a very high level of quality. I could sense a strength of heart that isn’t swayed by trends. Which direction will she head in from here? While the vision presented in this exhibition wasn’t spelled out explicitly, she is a figure to watch who will surely grow ever more active. She’s one of the artists I’m rooting for.
