Oil on canvas

130 × 97 cm. 51 1/8 × 38 1/4 in.

Titled, signed in English and dated on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Gallery Tsubaki, Tokyo
Acquired directly by previous private Japanese collector from the above
1 Jun 2019, Ravenel Taipei Spring Auction, Lot 28
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Tokyo Gallery Tsubaki signed by the artist

The Guardian of the Night, a Divine Force of Peace
Night Deer by Mayuka Yamamoto

Born in 1964 in Okayama, Japan, Mayuka Yamamoto is one of Japan's leading second-generation contemporary artists. After graduating from Musashino Art University in 1990, she spent nine years in the United Kingdom as an artist fellow, sponsored by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs, to broaden her horizons and deepen her creativity. Yamamoto's favourite subject is the mysterious “animal boys” dressed in animal costumes. She looks back to a time when humans were pure and innocent. Her characters, with their rounded antlers and furry ears, stare out of the painting with innocence and calmness, revealing a sentiment beyond words. “It's been about 20 years since I started painting boys dressed in animal costumes,” she says. Her delicate, dream-like atmosphere on canvas has attracted art lovers worldwide, with solo exhibitions in galleries in Amsterdam, Seoul, Hong Kong and Beijing. Her works are also included in public collections such as the Tokyo Fuchu Art Museum and the Musashino Art University Library.

Most of Asumika Yamamoto's “Animal Boy” works have light colours for the background. Darker colours are rarely used as the primary background colour. Fewer than 20 have appeared in auctions, and Night Deer is one of them. The darker background strengthens the contrast of colours and the emotional tension of the images. In this painting, the main character is a deer boy wearing a hoodie with large antlers. The artist has constructed his body in delicate soft white and blue-grey colours. His skin and the edges of his clothing are softly textured with blurring strokes, giving him a moon-like glow in the deep night air. His dreamy antlers, which rise upwards and have an elegant and excellent pale blue colour, symbolising the union between human and nature. The black hair on the front is like the tender fluff of a deer as if he were the son of a forest spirit, appearing silently at nightfall, both real and imaginary.

In Japanese mythology, the god Takemikazuchi came on a white deer to bring order and peace, so the “white deer” was given the status of “messenger of the gods” and has been loved and worshipped. In this painting, the deer boy's calm and open gaze is infused with a hint of silence, his lips pursed into a straight line as he quietly gazes at the viewer, combining the qualities of a child and an adult and showing the artist's multiple emotional experiences of childhood. The deer boy is like a guardian spirit watching over the earth in the darkness of the night, bringing a reassuring and calming power to the soul.

Price estimate:
HKD: 280,000 – 380,000
USD: 35,700 – 48,400

Auction Result:
HKD: --