Kenji Inoue’s paintings bear testament to a globalized world where images flow unrestricted across borders and media. He combines different styles and techniques in his colorful bright palette, creating evocative and playful dreamscapes. In some works, traditional painting techniques of Inoue’s native Japan dominate the canvas, with other stylistic elements floating conspicuously beyond the pictorial space. Other paintings feature surreal settings, blending the desert landscapes of Dalí and the colorful backdrops of Miró.
Inoue sets his ballets of discordant images against these brilliantly colorful fields. Archetypal symbols of ancient Asian culture encounter childlike characters from contemporary Japanese pop culture and video games; giant dragons wrap around figures culled from American cartoons. Where Basquiat evoked violence in his harsh combinations of dissonant elements, Inoue offers both positive and negative possibilities. There’s tension between his figures from disparate sources, but the fantastical landscapes of color they inhabit suggest a kind of hyperspace where globalized imagery engages in a free play of discontinuities and recombination.
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