Artist: Maki Na Kamura
Exhibition title: Steine legen, Äpfel lesen
Venue: Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
Date: October 15, 2017 – March 4, 2018
Photography: images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens
Note: Exhibition press release can be found here
The work of Maki Na Kamura (Japan, lives and works in Germany) is clearly of the 21st century, but the way she uses horizons may refer to a five centuries old tradition of painting. She argues that “the horizon was invented by painters” because the horizon in nature as a physical line or area does not exist. While many realistic landscapes often give a static impression through the use of horizontal lines, Maki multiplies and interrupts the horizon. Although she applies various techniques and forms of representation suggesting a classic pictorial space, these landscapes are not clearly defined. Maki Na Kamura plays freely with abstraction and figuration, creating a tension between these two concepts giving painting a new and special dimension.
