Year: 2012
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 181.8 x 227.3 cm (71 1/2 x 89 1/2 in.)
Acquired from Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2022
Kuwakubo’s works often depict seaside scenery. Perhaps it is because in his early career, he played the role of the imaginary painter while drawing at an easel on the beach. Most of his works are set in the sky, the sea, and on the beach. As the title suggests, this work is a scene of the sea at night; however, the beach in front is somehow a wide-spreading deck-like floor, dotted with sculptural figures and various objects. In addition, the smoke-like substance rising from them creates countless swirls in the night sky. The brushstrokes with a sense of materiality in thick paint are reminiscent of Van Gogh’s work. It may be because of the depiction of swirls and dark sky, evoking famous works such as “The Starry Night” and “Cypresses, Sunflowers, Starry Night Over the Rhone”. The pink and orange flashes across the sea surface extend from the reflection of the city lights on the left edge of the work. The flashes reach the center of the drawing and suddenly form an artificial straight line, giving the work a strange appearance. While following this depiction with the eyes, the scenery dramatically shifts to Kuwakubo's vision as the visionary.
Many of the figures sitting on white pedestals are shown covering their faces with their hands. In art history, this pose is famously associated with the statue of Cain by Henri Vidal in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, a gesture that expresses regret, despair, and anguish. If this is the case, the black swirls that seem to be spitting out of the figures should reveal the dark emotions that swirl within their hearts. Reminiscent of the distressed artist, will this night sky swallow up the darkness for him?
This work was exhibited in “Azamino Contemporary vol.2 Viewpoints: Drawing and Painting” (Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Azamino, 2012).
