Raw Egg H

Kaoru Ueda graduated from the fine arts department of University of Tokyo in 1954. He first received recognition when he won an award at an international poster design competition. After spending over decade in the commercial design business, he carved a new path to develop his artistic career at age 40. Ueda primarily painted in the style of photorealism. However, his subject matters and compositions are often bizarre. They diverge wildly from classical still life oil paintings. In addition, Ueda excels in highlighting the fleeting nature of his subjects. His works thoroughly demonstrate the richness of contemporary visual art language. Beloved by private collectors and public institutions alike, his works are widely collected by museums such as Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and Fukuoka Art Museum (fig. 1). His oil painting Raw Egg H is published in Japanese textbooks, and they are extensively circulated in secondary schools. Ueda's imageries have truly entered the collective consciousness of Japanese society. The concept of the Raw Egg series originated from an advertisement design for audio equipment. Ueda confessed that he personally does not like loud noises. For this reason, he wanted to turn his focus to exploring the possibilities in soft sounds. He eventually found an every day object to manifest this concept — an egg. Through the painting medium, he attempted to capture the moment when an egg shell cracks to evoke the presence of a sound. In Raw Egg H (Lot 170), the work offered in this sale, an egg is positioned in the middle of a black background as if it is suspended in the darkness of the outer space. As the egg cracks on its own accord, egg yolk and egg white drip out of the shell, and the painting preserves this perfect moment. Like a silent movie without a beginning or an end, this scene is filled with suspense and mystery of a science fiction. Similar to Raw Egg H, Ueda's approach to Soapsuds D (Lot 171) is also to magnify the subject matter and then render the fine details. This mode of expression is comparable to observing a specimen under a microscope in a scientific experiment. It guides the viewers to observe an ordinary object under the artist's prescribed conditions so that they can discover beauty that is often overlooked. In Soapsuds D, a cloud of soap bubbles is suspended in midair in front of a blue backdrop painted in an otherworldly blue. Constructed with simple geometric shapes, this composition is suggestive of abstract aesthetics. Bubbles are closely associated with qualities such as instability and impermanence. However, Ueda painted them in such a way that the hemispheres are tightly assembled together. Reinforced by the fact that these bubbles have been enlarged, surprisingly, they give viewers the feeling that they are incredibly solid like a lone island in the ocean. Ueda's silhouette is captured on the glossy surfaces of the bubbles — this work can be considered as a multiple self-portrait of the artist as well.