Yoshimi Arts is pleased to announce it will be holding “Turbidity”, a solo exhibition by Yugo Kohrogi. The exhibition will mainly present works from Kohrogi’s “ | ” series, which is his fundamental series. “ | ” refers to multiple meanings, including “oneself (I)”, number “1”, and “vertical bar”. The works are composed of and express a dichotomic relationship between backgrounds and figures. The motifs are human forms, but when we look at them in relation to their backgrounds, we could say those human forms are a “representation of light and/or color”. This relationship has been transformed and developed into series of “／”, “＼” and “≡”.
Further, Kohrogi has examined the interaction between his works and the outside world. In “Pond”, his solo exhibition at Yoshimi Arts in 2016, he painted the four sides of the canvas frame with fluorescent colors different to those that extend from the front surface, making the colors reflect on the walls to physically show an interaction between the paintings and the surrounding environment. In the “KYOTO STEAM 2022 International Art Competition” (Higashiyama Cube, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art), held from January to February 2022 in Kyoto, he created a work that changes little by little over time. He used numeric data and images taken from component analysis with Horiba, Ltd.’s measurement technology and projected this onto the painting, drawn with polarization pigments as well as with gloss and/or matte treated paints.
In this exhibition, in an attempt to reveal a similar effect to that of paintings in a gallery, we will apply the painting methodology Kohrogi has developed in the space itself.

 

My first painting series, “| (vertical)” is the main feature of this exhibition. In this series, my focus is on the relationship between “inside and outside”.
The work gradually emerges by moving back and forth between a gray background (outside) and human figures (inside) during the production process.
This time, the whole gallery space will be set as “gray”, and I explore the resonance of colors within capricious and unstable elements, such as haziness, opacity and fragrance.
The exhibition title, “Turbidity”, refers to the measurement of the degree of water translucence.
The word “get cloudy 濁る” gives a negative impression, and may be associated with the Buddhist idea of “impurity” that is evoked when we hear the words “kegare” or “yogore” (meaning dirty or impure).
When we think of color, for example, there is actually no such thing as a “dirty” or “beautiful” color.
There is merely a color relationship that “looks” dirty or beautiful. Setting standards often allows us to discover something we are unaware of.
I think, on the other hand, existence that cannot be measured, such as feelings, are also very precious.
I find that these subtleties in my daily life, which I notice when I’m under a cloudy dusk setting, are what make me engaged with this world.

Yugo Kohrogi