Japan Art - Gallery Friedrich Müller
Koichi Nasu, Klaus Staudt
I have known Koichi Nasu since the eighties of the last century. He came from Stuttgart, where he studied painting in the class of Paul Uwe Dreyer at the state art academy there. During visits to his workspace near Frankfurt and on the basis of many conversations and prolonged observation of a large number of works, it became clear that Koichi Nasu has constantly and consistently developed his painting, which is characterized by paper collages.
He describes his works as an "expression of the juxtaposition of graphic and colored spatial form". His works are characterized by the line as a striking sign of his compositions. Its distribution on the picture plane is always an expression of subtle economy in harmony and contrast to the colored surface. The line is often the boundary of a colored surface or moves across the picture plane in correspondence with a second line that never runs parallel. It is an essential component of the entire composition. The colored surfaces consist of mostly transparent paper, applied subtly and often in several layers. Transparency as an expression of spatiality, of translucency and as an indication of the processual procedure.
Meeting Koichi Nasu and his wife led to a friendly relationship over time. I invited him to teach at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach, which Koichi declined on the grounds that he was not suitable for teaching. In 2004/2005, he took part in the exhibition series "Between Painting and Object", which I initiated, with a remarkable series of works at Schloss Philippsruhe in Hanau.
Looking at my work, Koichi was surprised that I could work serially for such a long time and was amazed at the diversity of the results. He admired my three-dimensional works with serial structures on two levels and their structural changes resulting from light and shadow. He said the works arouse curiosity, especially when the viewer changes position. The light reflects on the structures between light and dark, between cold and warm, between near and far. Rhythm of light and shadow, of surface and depth, of sharp and blurred images, of movement.
We often talked about it and drew comparisons with other artists. The exhibition at Frankfurt's Japan Art Galerie is an attempt to juxtapose the two groups of works with the indication that two different artistic statements reflect the same attitude in the consequence of their development.
Klaus Staudt
Exhibition
Koichi Nasu, Klaus Staudt
Works in dialog
Sep 06 - Oct 12
Contact
Christa Müller
Braubachstraße 9
60311 Frankfurt am Main
