Day Falls / Night Falls

Noted worldwide for his sublime waterfall and cliff images, which are often monumental in scale, Hiroshi Senju (b. 1958, Suginami) combines a minimalist visual language rooted in Abstract Expressionism with ancient painting techniques unique to Japan.

Widely recognized as one of the few contemporary masters of the thousand-year-old Nihonga style of painting, Mr. Senju began exploring the waterfall image in the early 1990s. He seamlessly combines traditional Japanese techniques and materials such as pigments made from minerals, ground stone, shell and corals suspended in animal-hide glue with a modernist visual vocabulary. With incredible delicacy, he pours translucent paint onto mulberry paper mounted on board, creating the sensation of unrestrained movement. Evoking a deep sense of calm, his waterfalls conjure the appearance, sound, smell and feel of rushing water.

For this exhibition, the New York-based artist uses fluorescent pigments, a medium he first explored in 2007. These images appear black and white in daylight but fluoresce an arresting electric blue under ultraviolet light. An ode to the ubiquitous city lights of contemporary existence, Senju’s waterfalls hover between day and night as he straddles the realms of industry and nature, the material and the ethereal.

The central portion of the gallery will be retrofitted so the paintings may be experienced under ultraviolet conditions. Here the viewer will be surrounded by two immense waterfall byobu (multi-panel folding screens) that each measure more than eleven-meters wide when fully extended. These painted panels allow the viewer to be completely enveloped in towering, vibrant-blue cascades.