Downtown Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery (CHG) is proud to announce its next major solo show. A Change of Scenery, featuring new works from Japanese artist Ryoko Kaneta, is set to premiere November 2nd in Gallery 2.
Kaneta, a leading figure among Japan’s emerging artists, bases her work on ancient Japanese philosophies, including the belief that God resides in all things. Her descriptive paintings are embedded in historic cultures yet exist as fleeting spectacles of nature. Using acrylic paint, she expertly blends colors to create images that seem to evolve and flow, reflecting the cyclical nature of time and the transient qualities of the natural world.
In her work, Kaneta often portrays female figures to symbolize elements of nature, such as weather patterns and the dramatic transformations of the seasons, all depicted in a dreamlike style. Many of her landscapes are inspired by places she has visited, locations that deeply resonate with her. Through her art, she seeks to capture the history and untold stories of these places, a process reminiscent of the Rinpa and Kan? Schools' approach to depicting nature as celebrated in classical Japanese literature.
Regarding her new works, Kaneta shares: “In this exhibition, I depicted beautiful landscapes within the wildness and serenity of nature. The characters of different sizes are embodiments of nature itself, natural phenomena, signs, memories, and other invisible things. I expressed nature by using the shapes of the characters.”
She adds, “In ancient Japanese belief, the gods were believed to be present in the thunderstorms that fell in torrents, as well as in the majestic Mt. Fuji standing silently, and even the small flowers found on the side of the road. I hope you will enjoy the presence beyond human knowledge that you can feel from the great nature and the small signs that you can feel from the shadows of flowers and grass through the characters.”
About Ryoko Kaneta:
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1991, Ryoko Kaneta graduated from Yokohama University of Art and Design in 2014. She uses female figures in various sizes to express the existence of gods and natural phenomena, beyond human understanding. Her ability to fuse ancient philosophies with contemporary techniques has led to exhibitions throughout Japan, China, Australia, and France. In June 2022, Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery hosted Kaneta’s U.S. solo debut In Our Nature.