Wataru Matsumura: Microcosms In Ink

“a performative dimension to the drawings, tying the references to tradition to the art of the present.”

Wataru Matsumura, A Way 01. Pen and ink on paper, 33 x 45 in. Courtesy of Onishi Gallery.

Wataru Matsumura: Microcosms In Ink
Sonia Coman

It is often said of pictures that they open a window to another world. The images created by Japanese artist Wataru Matsumura construct their own worlds. Leon Battista Alberti made the window metaphor famous in the 15th century in relation to the use of perspective, but Matsumura’s drawings make no use of this device. They open the window, so to speak, through their unique vocabulary, which I started to decipher at the artist’s first American solo show, at the Onishi Gallery in New York City.

The gallery allows for enough space to move from one piece to the other, and from up close to farther away; from each angle, the perception of the work changes. Not too remote from Op Art, Matsumura’s magnetic images play in a sophisticated way with optical illusion. As suggested by the exhibition title–“Lines | Road to the Future”–lines represent the artist’s major means for drawing, with few, if any, solid areas. In his ink on paper drawings, fragments of infinitesimally detailed patterns are juxtaposed one to the other, creating a kaleidoscopic effect. For example, in A Way 01, the surface appears to be filled with almost regularly spaced circles on a gray background; upon closer look, the circles reveal concentric patterns and the background turns out to be an extremely dense grid of minuscule, hatched squares.

A practicing artist since 1967, Wataru Matsumura is a native of Kumamoto, Japan. According to Nana Onishi, the owner of the gallery and the curator of the show, Matsumura is an exponent of Japanese traditional arts, insofar as his labor-intensive art evokes the artist’s quest for technical perfection. Included in the gallery’s presentation of the artist’s work is Akira Sakata’s comparison of Matsumura’s drawings with a Buddhist mandala. Sakata, adviser at the Kumamoto Prefectural Art Museum, notes the “masterfully controlled technique” and the “small and mysterious universe” that the drawings evoke. These ideas are useful in formulating what I see as a double-sided coin minted by the artist in his drawings: on the one hand, a reformulation of traditional Japanese two-dimensional imagery and, on the other, an evocation of and commentary upon computer-generated art.

The mandala comparison captures the impression of worlds-within-worlds in Matsumura’s drawings. It is not irrelevant that the artist titled one of his pieces in the exhibition Muroji, referring to a well-known Buddhist temple in Japan and thereby suggesting a direct connection to tradition. The intricacy, the precision, and the time-consuming aspect of the artist’s drawings point to the genres of yamato-e (classical scroll paintings) and ukiyo-e (literally, “images of the floating world”) woodblock prints, respectively. However, the pictures in these styles are almost always representational, and almost always in color, while Matsumura’s pieces are non-representational and in black and white, and significantly so: it is precisely the economy of using only black ink on white paper that flashes out, by contrast, the complexity of the work, as a result of the artist’s skill, patience, and sense of composition. From this perspective, one is reminded of the sumi-e (literally, “ink pictures”) tradition, but only in terms of the monochrome; otherwise, Matsumura’s carefully constructed pictorial realms are as far as an image can be from the (no matter how calculated) spontaneous effect of the sumi-e. Therefore, Matsumura’s drawings go far beyond copying a single traditional trajectory. Instead, the artist’s work merges aspects of various traditions of Japanese drawing and painting into a new hybrid creation.

The notion of hybridity brings us to the other side of the coin, namely, the unmistakably modern look of the drawings, reminiscent of computer-generated imagery and fabric pattern designs. The motifs in Core, one of the most compelling pieces in the show, are suggestive of both fashion patchwork design and composite stills from computer music visualizations. Nevertheless, the artist made clear to me how important the indexical nature of his drawings is for his artistic program: “I do think that drawing by hand causes the work to receive cardiac output – it gives each of them a soul.” This idea emphasizes the importance of the hand, not only as opposed to the computer, but also in contrast with reproductive means in general. As the artist explained, he insists on the uniqueness of the “original” as proof of the art-making process and as material connection between the artist’s intention and the viewer’s response.

Undoubtedly apparent in the selection of works on display, the assiduous efforts invested by the artist are all clearly readable in the finished pieces. This aspect adds a performative dimension to the drawings, tying the references to tradition to the art of the present. The result is a hybrid and mediating realm. Ultimately, Matsumura’s artwork is inviting the viewer to see a different world, or perhaps to see the world differently.

This exhibit was on view this Fall from September 29 – October 12, 2011.

This article was published by NY Arts Magazine, 2011. NY Arts Magazine is published by Abraham Lubelski. Sponsored by Broadway Gallery, NYC and World Art Media.