Oil on canvas

117 × 78 cm. 46 × 30 3/4 in.

Signed in English and dated on the bottom
EXHIBITED
11 -12 Feb 2022, Shin Gallery × Sun Potion Casita Exhibition, Shin Gallery, Santa Barbara

PROVENANCE
Shin Gallery, New York
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

People and Memory Are Like a Rainbow, Enchanting and Lasting
The Encounter of Etsu Egami's Illusionary Colours

“Rainbows symbolize dreams and hopes; at the same time, The colours parallel each other with distinct boundaries,but when combined, they are beautiful and shining. This strongly resonates with the essence of communication that I pursue.”
——Etsu Egami

As a third-generation post-war Japanese artist, Etsu Egami's artistic dream began in childhood. She was introduced to calligraphy by her father, and later travelled the world with her parents, visiting major art museums. Under the influence of art, she aspired to become an artist who could represent the East. Born in 1994, she grew up in Japan, lived in Europe and America, and later settled in Beijing, where she earned a master's degree in oil painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Liu Xiaodong. Her works have been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Grand Palais in Paris, and the UCCA Contemporary Art in Beijing, receiving enthusiastic responses. In 2020, she was listed on the Forbes Under 30 Elite list, and her works have been collected by the Moscow Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum in Japan.

Fate is Like a Bridge

The experiences of misinterpretation, mishearing, and misunderstanding during her long-term overseas life have led Egami to explore the essence of human communication through her creations. Her works encompass sound, video, and painting, presenting what she saw, heard, and thought. She uses her highly individualized brushwork to create semi-abstract faces and believes that portraits are not objects, but materials to connect with the viewers.

The two pieces presented in the auction are from her famous Rainbow series. The series was originally created during the pandemic that made the artist think more deeply about human communication. The social distancing and self-isolation increased miscommunication, inspiring Egami to express her hopes in the dreamlike brushstrokes. The faces in this series are all people who have crossed paths with the artist. She believes that the moment when people meet is like flowering of cherry blossoms - beautiful but fleeting. Therefore, she uses her paintings to capture the beauty of the world and turn it into something eternal on canvas. Her style oscillates between figurative and abstract, with contrasting warm and cool colours in strong rhythmic brushstrokes. When viewed from afar, the images become more vivid, with the characters appearing as reliefs embedded in parallel lines. When viewed up close, the main characters blend into the background, appearing elusive and full of mystery.

My Beauty and Resilience

“I follow memories to search for places I visited and people I met in my childhood. Through interviewing, conversing, and other means, I explore the relationships among people, hometown, and memories.”
——Etsu Egami

If we closely observe the two works, we can see that Egami initially drew the base image with a pencil. Through the process of sketching, she gradually restores the moment of meeting with another person, and cherishing these moments of reflection. Rainbow-2022-W-29 (Lot 61) is an extremely rare and almost monochromatic half-length portrait in Egami's works so far. The overall image is a dreamy purple-blue, presenting a woman facing the viewer. With fine hair and shoulders, slanted eyebrows, upturned eyes, a tall nasal bridge, closed lips, and a cool temperament, she resembles a runway model while exuding a solemn expression. The simple and transparent brushstrokes outline the luxurious fairy-like clothing, with soft feather-like curves arranged in parallel, with light grey, sea blue, light purple, and rose red orderly arranged to form delicate block-like colours. The abundant blank space during this process is like the breathing of the canvas. The background consists of vigorous and powerful lines, forming a sharp contrast with the blank space, emphasizing undeniable strong aura of the character. The abstract lines in the painting leave more room for imagination and contemplation for the viewers, showing the resilience, tenderness, and strength of a modern strong woman, touching their hearts.

Contemplation in Poetic Brushes and Inks

Egami skilfully blends Western-style oil paint with the calligraphy techniques she learned from her childhood. In Rainbow (Lot 60), the artist specifically introduces the colour scheme commonly seen in Chinese landscape painting, including shades of bluish green, ochre, and sepia, which is rare in the series. With varying lengths of horizontal lines, she outlines the short hair and faintly visible ear contours of the woman. A few curves, mixed with green and brown, depict her calm face with hairs behind the ear. Where the green and brown colours end, light blue, bright orange, and dark red continue in parallel to depict the forehead, bridge of the nose, vermilion lips, and neck. With slightly parted lips, the figure seems to let out a gentle sigh, immersed in contemplation. The flowing traces of oil paint resemble water waves, giving the overall picture a warm and serene feeling, exhibiting a poetic rhythm. “Language can only be sensed, not explained.” The obscure abstract colours become intuitive feelings, allowing people to unconsciously understand the subtle distances between individuals, as well as the poetic nature of every meeting and parting.

Egami believes that a person's face is like a book that can never be finished reading. The two works integrate the seven colours of the rainbow, representing the artist's perception of the people encountered and the present atmosphere in her mind. Communication is like parallel lines, with the most touching individuals always remaining in our memories.

Price estimate:
HKD 120,000 – 200,000
USD 15,400 – 25,600

Auction Result:
HKD: 110,400