Moroi 脆い - An Exploration of Human Fragility

Last week a young artist by the name of Mizuki Nishiyama reached out to me as an avid reader of my blog. She had a background that seems almost tailor made for this blog as a Japanese that grew up in Hong Kong and is now based in New York. As part of our correspondence she sent me some samples of her work which I have share here with my readers. 





(Hittori no Jibun)



(Hittori Onna)


(Da Ke)


(Quiet Sounds) 


I find them disturbing and visceral, hitting you like a punch in the gut. Although it is not the usual work that I am drawn to, there is something that makes it difficult to look away. Something that hints at the fragility of the masks we put up to the world, and the raw untamed power of the emotions and unconscious beneath as if we were but a hair's breath from madness.  

To me the work has echoes of Picasso, combining the rawness of Lucian Freud mixed with movement and the colors and brushwork of Basquiat. It is hard to characterize but at the same time retains something essentially Asian and Japanese. 

Japan as a country is very safe but beneath the calm and refined exterior there are many repressed thoughts, desires and emotions. These are extensively explored in Japanese literature and movies, in particular those of the murder mystery or horror genres. There is something of a similar impulse here to explore what really lies beneath, to unearth the dark and shadow side of us that we are most afraid to show.

While the theme of the show is the Japanese kanji for fragile or brittle, I actually found a softer side behind the pictures - the unifying theme for me was that of vulnerability - that behind the different exteriors we present to the world we are still all subject to emotions such as sadness, loneliness, pride, doubt.    

Mizuki Nishiyama's show is ongoing at the Greenpoint Gallery from the 8th March, 2019 390 McGuinness Blvd, Brooklyn, New York 














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