Dark Rock 黒い岩

Like a trapped and swirling mass of air, the painting is forever in flux. When we stand in front of it, the whole picture rather than the details capture our attention, and massive square swallows us up. It is hard to know which side is up and which is down with this picture and the uncertainty threats our sense of balance and makes us drawn irresistibly into it. This effect derives at least partly from the unique way this artist creates her works. She places the canvas flat on the floor, sprinkles diluted paint onto it from all directions, wipes it off, and the rubs paint and clear medium into the canvas again. The translucency of the paint is preserved, and this gives little sense of its materiality. The use of pink also helps to give the pictures an undefeatable buoyancy. In this work especially, the white has been applied in distinct brushworks mixes with the white base color and creates a complex effect. Yoko Matsumoto has absorbed the essence of the works of Matisse and Frankenthaler dominated by color planes, and has always produced abstract works in a style uniquely her own. However, unique as it is, her style shares some elements with that of Eastern paintings portraying wet, turbulent air, as in the india ink landscape drawings by Muxi from Southern Sung.