Acrylic on canvas

41 x 31.8 cm. 16 1/8 x 12 1/2 in.

Signed in English on bottom right
LITERATURE
2001, Campanella, Parolsha Publishing House, Tokyo, p.34
2010, Black Angel, Ping Art Space, Taipei, p.168

EXHIBITED
9 – 21 Apr 2001, Campella, Aoki Gallery, Tokyo

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

Note: This work is attached with label from Aoki Gallery on reverse

The magic and machinery of the universe
The painting theater of Shichinohe Masaru
Shichinohe Masaru was born in 1959 in Aomori, Japan. His works reflect an exceptional imagination and sense of space, which has much to do with his early career as an architect. Masaru graduated from Musashino Art University, where he majored in architecture. After three years in the construction business, however, he decided to radically change his occupation and became a professional painter. In 2000, Masaru published his first illustrated book, Campanella: The Mechanical Boy and the Magic Bugle, a collaboration with Japanese-German novelist Haruki Amanuma. It garnered widespread recognition in both the publishing industry and the arts community, and established for the world Masaru's personal style as an artist. Prism II was one of the major works included in the book； it was created in 1999 and is now being made available – here, at this very auction.
In Prism II, the artist uses delicate brushwork to depict two boys sitting on a couch. Placed in a modest, limited room, the two are almost indistinguishable, with similar faces, hairstyle, clothing, and even shoes. They look like young intellectuals, and they exude a palpable air of indifference and a sense of idleness in their eyes, as if pondering something. It is as if the melody played by the boy with the lute were refracted into two acoustic signals of differing wavelengths. Masaru's sensitivity to architectural beauty is also seen in the pillars in the painting's background: the symmetry of their form, of their lines, creates a Romanesque air of mystery and solemnity. The hands on the clock in the middle point exactly to twelve o'clock, symbolizing both the beginning and end of the cycle.The red curtains on either side are drawn open, suggesting a theatrical space, as if the scene were being staged. In Prism II, Masaru combines machinery, nature, art and magic into a coherent whole, as if inviting readers into a suspense novel where they are called upon to unravel a series of riddles to discover the ultimate truth.

Price estimate:
HKD: 150,000 - 250,000
USD: 19,100 - 31,800

Auction Result:
HKD : --