It is all in the detail
By Søs Bech Ladefoged
With a raw surface of thick oil paint, the works by Japanese artist Rieko Hotta tempt the viewer to a quick touch when no one is watching. Whether she is working with oil on canvas or floating textiles with small dots of thick paint, her starting point is precision.
Rieko Hotta’s consistent way of identifying and expressing precision is manifested when studying her artworks up close. Clearly, there is a patient craft behind the seemingly simple paintings, which bear witness to the fact that she is an artist who accepts and delivers nothing but perfection.
By use of an all black monochrome, Rieko Hotta takes a minimalistic approach in her gentyou-series from 2015. However, at the same time the artworks are organic and human, manifesting that a steady hand is behind the execution. The fat black layer of oil paint almost resembles a layer of sticky tart, which is stretched out on the frame.
In her recent artworks with tempera on cotton, Hotta uses a minimalistic technique when she hides signs from a geometric pattern in a painting that looks almost monochrome. Even though there is a clear coherence in her artworks, it is a pleasure to explore Rieko Hotta’s paintings on canvas and cotton to identify the small variations in each artwork. Surely, much of the magic lies in her sense for details.
CV
Rieko Hotta (b. 1977 in Tokyo, Japan)
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Graduated Nihon University College of Art department of Fine Arts in Tokyo,
Japan, in 2001.
Current exhibitions:
Hotta-Lindvig-Magnusson (group exhibition), 13/01 – 18/02 2017 Marie Kirkegaard Gallery, Copenhagen Denmark
The Tactile 06/01-17 – 19/02-17 Godsbanen, Aarhus Denmark