OCT 17 – NOV 29, Soul Food:  Art that Feeds the Soul

TOYOMI HOSHINA, installation and drawing
SHEN FAN, painting

Chicago, Illinois:
Walsh Gallery will debut the installation art of Toyomi Hoshina from Tokyo and oil on rice paper or linen paintings by Shanghai artist Shen Fan. The opening reception will be Friday, October 17 from 5 to 9 pm. The show runs through November 29. Both artists will be present at the opening.

Toyomi Hoshina is one of the most critically acclaimed, successful installation artists in Japan. His installations are world renowned for using natural materials like wood and handmade paper to make large–scale, site–specific constructs. Dr. Hoshina was commisioned to create one of the Nagano Olympic Monuments in Japan in 2000, and also serves as associate professor at the prestigious Tokyo National Universtiy of Fine Arts and Music. Dr. Hoshina grew up in a small mountain town in Nagano prefecture, and was heavily influenced by the "Monoha" school, a Japanese minimalist group of the late 60s. The Monoha artists used natural, simple materials and made art that referenced nature. Dr. Hoshina's work is simple, geometric yet beautiful; particularly known for his application of abstract sumi-ink drawing onto his architectural structures.

Dr. Hoshina has created architectural pods that are supported by wooden stakes that bend and are covered in handmade paper. The pods are interactive and designed for viewers to crawl under or walk around. Dr. Hoshina tries to recreate the experience of being surrounded and protected by nature. Furthermore, Dr. Hoshina is fascinated by the duality of what is seen as inside versus outside. Dr. Hoshina’s work has been seen in Japan, China, Korea, Germany, France, and Holland. His work has also shown at the following museums; Seoul National Contemporary Museum (Korea), Dusseldorf Kunst Hall (Germany), Switzerland National Historical Museum, Paris Civic Museum of Modern Art.

Painter Shen Fan creates work that looks like fabric. Smooth impasto repeated designs of solitary colors create a tantric kick. Shen Fan is very inspired by blues and jazz music, and his carefully controlled strokes carry a musicality to them. Originally a skilled draftsman, Shen Fan became fed up with traditional representational imagery. He felt it was an inadequate form of expression. His oil on rice paper paintings create a tapestry of brush strokes, showing the importance of the line and how it disappears amidst explorations of self. In Shen Fan's work there are no answers; ultimately it is the search or process that is meaningful. Shen Fan has shown his paintings in many museums internationally such as; The House of World Culture (Berlin), National Taiwan Art Institute, Palais Expositions (France), and the Shanghai Art Museum.