Lot 733: MASARU SHICHINOHE

MASARU SHICHINOHE B. 1959 INVITATION signed in English executed in 2010 acrylic on canvas 112 by 145.5 cm.; 44 1/8 by 57 1/4 in.

My endeavours in painting stem from my encounters with the works by Japanese Surrealist writer Inagaki Taruho (1900-1977). Taruho, in turn, was heavily influenced by English author Lord Dunsany in his emotionless forays into the psyche of the young male. There was no place for the modernist-Futurist musings of Taruho in the staunch literary arena of early 20υth century Japan. Though I am temporally far separated from his era, the aura of his works is still ever powerful and has managed to abduct my mind. A smoldering desire to pictorialize the interior of his mental landscape compelled me to investigate the intricacies of the techniques behind painting. I had my son in my 30's—he became the source of my inspiration, my very own painting language was formed and thus determined the direction of my stylistic evolution. Boys have been replaced by girls in my compositions and there is an increasing emphasis on the still, non-living object. An atmosphere of lifelessness, the vacant spaces in dreams and a fixation on history, these are all governing principles of my pictures. In order to best convey such a world frozen in my mind, I make my own puppets after which I model my figures. I am in search for a nostalgia that transcends all races and all generations."

-- Masaru Shichinohe