Yui Yaegashi
View from here, an occurence
Yui Yaegashi's paintings unfold sensitively programmed on small formats. By imagining the size, the brushes and the colors she will use in advance, she constrains herself to a protocol and steps to follow, which are a priori detached from the aesthetic of the result. The colors, most often sober or neutral, are assembled in soft harmony, sometimes exploring the pallet of the same tonality. The same goes for her tools, where the particularity of each painting depends on the characteristics of the brush chosen. The paint material is almost always applied in a linear gesture, which allows her to create an abstract composition that does not refer to any environment or any identifiable form. The lines are often arranged horizontally and vertically and vary in size and width. The composition is set in a particular, predetermined order so that the lines intertwine, brush against each other, weave together, oscillating between oily transparency and denser texture.
Nonetheless, the reassuring order of the artist's works also leaves space for instinct and improvisation. Thus, each movement, each tremor becomes an event and each hair of the bristle composes a fluid weaving. Whether carried out with precision or spontaneity, the programming of her compositions leaves us admiring the purity of the act itself. The formats of Yui Yaegashi's paintings impose a certain form of intimacy, a confidential approach, and invite us to a prolonged, almost meditative look, not only revealing the delicacy of the material but also the one of the artist's gesture, and all the depth that this implies.
Yui Yaegashi (*1985, Chiba, Japan) has previously exhibited at MISAKO & ROSEN, Toyko; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis; Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo; i8 gallery, Reykjavik; Parrasch Heijnen, Los Angeles; The Modern Institute, Glasgow; Queer Thoughts and White Columns, both New York, among others. Currently, Yaegashi’s first European solo-exhibition is on view at LA MAISON DE RENDEZ-VOUS, Brussels (organized by MISAKO & ROSEN).