Reviews from the Crypt #2: Kawasaki Takayasu

Title: Complete visual abstraction
Artist: Kawasaki Takayasu
Exhibition: The Subconscious Moment
Where: El Space, LAC

Kawasaki Takayasu is from Kyoto, Japan. He has been painting for 17 years, and has exhibited often in his homeland. The Subconscious Moment is his first exhibition in Australia.

Kawasaki’s 40 or so paintings use complete visual abstraction; an art form rarely explored in contemporary Australian art. All of them explore shape, colour and the simplification of form. He told me that he freed himself from conscious intervention through his painting, and allowed his instinct to guide the brush. It is through his subconscious that his joy in colour, spontaneity and freedom is expressed. He attempts to harmonise colour and form; harmony that is created through his, and the viewers’, inner spirits. It is only after the painting process when he stands back and ponders, that a meaning arises.

These works are certainly colourful; however they just seem to lack something. They failed to move me. They are not refreshing reinterpretations of what can be a powerful medium. There was an awful stench of corporate art surrounding them. They seemed ideal for colouring up a drab wall and to hide behind a plastic pot plant. This could have something to do with the small scale and easily marketable canvases that he used. He told me that this was because he was not sure of the size of the gallery. I would like to see him work on larger canvases, where his potential may be unleashed.