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Reproducing the work of Yuko Moriyama would challenge any
printer. She could fall into one of those modern black holes by
virtue of her work not looking instant or flashy in a newspaper. I
hope this doesn't impede her progress too much, though, because her
debut exhibition at the Gallery of the Swiss Cottage Central
Library is a promising one.
Water Spirits is a collection of drawings inspired by visits this
summer to the ponds on Hampstead Heath as she works as the
gallery's first artists in residence. It's actually quite hard to
believe they are drawings, particularly when you consider that
water is one of the most difficult things to describe in pencil or
paint.
Yet in the clear, white space of the gallery, Moriyama's work look
as though they have almost floated onto the walls, concealing the
hours of patient toil it has obviously taken to make them.
The surface dimples, interlocking patterns and velvety layers of
graphite draw you into the work, which has a strong meditative
quality.
Pale blues, violets and the subtlest greens merge together to
describe the shifting surface of the water. There is a silvery
sheen from the layer upon layer of graphite. It's as if someone has
thrown a silk sheet into the wind and recorded the shapes it makes.
Yet there is also a calmness that almost verges on the sinister.
They are somehow too perfect. You're almost waiting for an ominous
fin to slowly cut the surface of the water.
Moriyama, based in Glenmore Road, Belsize Park, came to Britain
form Japan in 1978, and has interrupted her work as an architect to
pursue a fine art career.
"At the Architectural Association we were encouraged to do lots of
drawing. The end product became a building but the process was very
similar to fine art. I miss the possibilities of self-expression,
though." she said, explaining her shift in career.
But why take water as a subject? "I am influenced by Buddhist
culture, In many religions it is a spiritual symbol," she says.
Moriyama's work refuses to show off or to impress to us with an
ephemeral flashiness. In the season where we are helplessly sucked
into the excesses of consumerism, this can only soothe our sore
heads and wallets.
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