SEIZAN Gallery New York is pleased to present The Light Over There, the solo exhibition of Japanese Nihonga painter Eri Iwasaki. Open September 5th through October 26th, 2024, the artist’s second solo presentation with the gallery unveils 10 new Nihonga portraits. The opening reception with the artist is 6-8pm on Thursday, September 5th, 2024. 

Eri Iwasaki places figures, either females or children, in otherworldly settings. Her subjects project strength as they sit or stand gracefully, looking outward towards the viewer. They exist at the intersection of reality and imagination, inaccessible yet empathetic. The expressionless and androgynous faces with beady eyes convey the universal power and mystery of portraits. They are reminiscent of works by Gustav Klimt, the Buddha statues in Kyoto temples, and the girls in Yoshitomo Nara’s paintings.

Iwasaki is inspired by people she encounters in her daily life. She works to capture the essence of energy and spirit onto paper. “I’m interested in existence, the shapes of someone independent,” says Iwasaki. "They might be fragile and incomplete, yet trying to stand by themselves. They neither intimidate or can be intimidated. I'm getting interested in portraying such existence standing in the here and now.” 

The discerning quality of Iwasaki’s works emerge from the particular materials and style of Nihonga (Japanese traditional painting). Iwasaki started studying Nihonga in high school and trained for decades to understand and utilize washi paper, mineral pigments, ink, gold leaf and other materials used over hundreds of years to create paintings in Japan. Iwasaki takes those traditional tools and ways of portraying the human form, and elevates them to contemporary expression. 

Eri Iwasaki was born in 1968 in Hyogo, Japan. She began her study of Nihonga in high school and is a graduate of the Kyoto Saga Junior College of Arts. As a leading figure of contemporary Nihonga artists, Iwasaki’s works have been shown widely,  including at SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo, SEIZAN Gallery New York, Mitsukosi in Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka, Takashimaya Osaka, and KAHO Gallery in Kyoto, among many others. Her work is in the Art Collection of Kyoto Prefecture. Iwasaki lives and works in Kyoto, Japan.

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