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Fuyuko Matsui

2020/3/13 - 4/11

When the cherry blossoms start to bloom in Kudan, we at Gallery Naruyama would like to introduce frightening, yet beautiful Japanese paintings by a beautiful Japanese painter.

The motive for a ghost to appear into our world is anger

Relating to this mentality, Matsui, on the verge of insanity, intertwines hysteric emotions into classic Japanese elegance.

Although the Kusou-shi, a picture scroll from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) is said to be ‘impure’, an inspired Matsui finished “Keeping Up the Pureness”, where a ‘purified’ corpse is depicted. As ‘purified’ may sound quite pleasant, she feels that ‘keeping it up’ is rather a painful experience. In ancient Japan, paintings of ghosts and painful motives were believed to drive away the evil, or even bring the luck home. The idea of ‘driving away evil with evil’ had people decorating their homes with paintings depicting evil. Some connoisseurs even had them painted on the insides of their kimonos.

There is nothing more beautiful and amazing as Japanese ghosts; nothing reflects upon the traditional Japanese aesthetics as ghosts. We hope her works suit you, as much as it suits Gallery Naruyama.



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