Shibui - 107 × 107 × 3 cm / 42.1 × 42.1 × 1.2 in
My paintings live on one line: the place where what I can control meets what I cannot.
In Shibui that line runs through every branch. I choose the colours, set the direction and place each leaf and bud with the palette knife. The branches I can only begin. They run, split, thin out and stop on their own, and on the right they leave the linen almost bare, as if the painting knew where to stop holding. Seen from the front, the canvas is soft green on the pale grain of raw linen. Take one step to the side and violet rises from beneath the green, a glow that was not there a moment ago begins to breathe, and the leaves shift like the wing of a beetle in the sun. This iridescence takes the same line beyond my studio. I will never know on which wall the painting will hang, how the light will fall there, or how much of the glow will be seen. I let that go with the painting.
Close to the surface there is the dry, cool smell of linen and the faint ridge where my knife lifted away. I paint without sketches, on the floor, standing over the canvas. Shibui is the Japanese word for a beauty that never raises its voice, a quiet depth that reveals itself only to those who stay. On a wall it follows the daylight, cool green in the morning and glowing violet when the light falls low from the side, so it is never quite the same painting twice. I don’t paint flowers or branches for their own sake. I paint my way of living: holding what can be held, and letting happen what cannot.
Medium: Acrylic, iridescent acrylic and airbrush on 100% linen canvas
Dimensions: 107 × 107 × 3 cm / 42.1 × 42.1 × 1.2 in
Year: 2026
Signed and dated by the artist
Comes with Certificate of Authenticity