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Lot Essay
Landscape art has been developing simultaneously across numerous generations and countries with distinct interpretations and inventions, revealing various perspectives, different levels of spiritual and emotional inspirations. Ryozo Kato is fascinated by Chinese ink landscape painting tradition of the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) where sceneries painted on scrolls had been rendered with finely executed strokes known as fuhekishun (axe-cut stroke) and himashun (fiber-texture stroke). Ryozo Kato employee his lsuch treatment in his landscape paintings by channeling the viewer's attention vertically across the foliage or horizontally through the mountain ranges, inviting them to walk down the meandering path. By employing delicate brushwork over a soft colour-washed paper, Kato forms a romantic vision of dense foliage that provides spiritual shelter for the hermetic literati scholars who had or have been practicing this style of painting. The acute shading of yellow and green is reminiscent of Baroque artist Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael's romantic paintings in which grandeur of Nature was revealed within the natural and untamed landscapes. Kato follows the footsteps of Dutch predecessors, using colour to create subtle nuances in clouds, greenery and ground, further adding richness as well as complexity to our idealistic imagination of landscapes. While a sense of wilderness may present unexpected encounters with animals and strangers, Kato's paintings are not meant to present tribulations of the extreme wild. Instead, he invites the viewer into the calm and meditative surroundings he creates.
Ryozo Kato was born in Gifu, Japan in 1964. In 1987, he graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in nihonga. He has participated in group exhibitions such as Saiji-kai Exhibition, Saihodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2008, 2009, 2010). His prizes include the honourable mention award from Omishima Art Museum, Omishima, Japan (2001); grand prize from Mont Deus Cultural Exchange Museum, Hida Kuraiyama, Japan (2003) and grand prize from Toyohashi Bijutsu Club, Toyohashi, Japan (2008).
Ryozo Kato was born in Gifu, Japan in 1964. In 1987, he graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in nihonga. He has participated in group exhibitions such as Saiji-kai Exhibition, Saihodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2008, 2009, 2010). His prizes include the honourable mention award from Omishima Art Museum, Omishima, Japan (2001); grand prize from Mont Deus Cultural Exchange Museum, Hida Kuraiyama, Japan (2003) and grand prize from Toyohashi Bijutsu Club, Toyohashi, Japan (2008).