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KENJI INOUE
Rock’n’Roll Monsters (diptych) Acrylic on Canvas 51” x 63”
Japanese artist, Kenji Inoue, creates paintings that are
exciting, abstract, improvisations dealing with a host of
subjects from nature to love, introspection and intergalactic
events. His medium of large sized acrylic paintings are not
easy to categorize stylistically. They employ elements of
Surrealism, folk art, and Abstract Expressionism; they are
explosive both in composition and approach. Everything
seems to be bursting towards the edge of the picture plane
as he places us in the furnace of Earth’s core or the cold
abyss of outer space.
In exploring the body of paintings, Inoue is never fixed in
one mode, he is comfortable dealing with a wide breadth
of emotional discourse. In many works he displays a
softer, quieter side to his world, with touching and poignant
explorations enacted by humanoid forms. Many motifs in
Inoue’s repertoire pertain to natural forms from flowers and
roots to fire and water. Inoue has an atmospheric sense
for composition, his characters and objects seem to float in
phosphorescent color, revolving and colliding in an ancient
whirling dance. Open, nebulous areas may be soothing
and cool, while other works seem to burst forth with electric
energy. His style daringly includes figurative snippets and
wild abstraction, often including both extremes in one piece.
The aggressive, stuccato brushwork infuses the image with
energy and rhythm while his unrestrained palette creates
a pulsating response in our eyes. Other works find Inoue
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searching deep inside the psyche, with abstract roots or
fingers reaching toward one another like massive neurons.
Here we find Inoue speaking to us through a moodier palette
and with more straightforward brushwork.
A constant theme within Inoue’s
works is that everything is in flux.
There are many philosophical
uncertainties, and though much
is undetermined about life, he
resists providing answers for his
audience and instead poses only
questions. “My art is no meaning,
no answer, just it’s only running.