Kirishima: Edge Of The Forest

"...At first I thought this wide painting was of gently sloping valleys, a mountain ridge just discernible through the trees... in all, I put it down as an abstract landscape. The dominance of the pale yellow, white and brown give it an austere tone, while the gold base brings out a radiance that suggests some vague oxidation. However, As I came nearer I began to find other features in it.

Among the many small brown flecks which looked like trees on a mountain ridge, there turned out to be three tiny figures of women walking in Japanese kimono; and the twisted, fragmented lines suggestive of trees in the hillside were actually faltering Japanese and Chinese characters scrawled diffusely. Many of them could not be deciphered as letters, which made me feel as though I had somehow been placed in a position to observe letters in the very process of being formed from the chaos..."

(Excerpt from an essay by Koji Goto, chief curator of the Fukuoka Prefectural Art Museum, entitled "An Introduction to the Art of Richard Grassi". Published in Kanazawa, Japan by Art Kikaku Press.)

Note: For more detailed views of this painting, please see the next two images.

acrylic paint on wood
51"H x 83"W
130cm H x 210cm W
Price:$40,000