Year: 2018
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 227.3 x 162 cm (89 1/2 x 63 3/4 in.)
Acquired from ANOMALY, 2022
This group portrait continues Konishi’s characteristic family portrait from his early works. The arms of the figures extending in all directions express an intense movement. On the other hand, the background color gradually changes from deep blue at the top to bright blue at the feet, creating a sense of tranquility and depth in the entire painting. The imposing figure in the center of the work looks more like a skeleton than a body, with arms and legs drawn in straight lines like sticks. The complex colors of blue, red, and orange that fill in the gaps between the stick-like bodies expressed in bright skin tones are peculiarly realistic. The head is not as simplified as the arms and legs. The curvilinear line depictions with intricate shapes that represent the eye sockets, bridge of the nose, and mouth as such, look unusually out of proportion. However, in this family portrait which is the basis for the painting, each person in the photo was wearing clothes and probably had a calm expression on their face looking at this side. Thus, the artist has given up the expression of depicting them in their appearance and emotions. For people to be recognized as individuals, it is necessary to portray their characteristics separately, but Konishi equalizes individuality through formal depiction. This way even though it loses the “individual”, the cohesiveness of the “group” is being strengthened. This means that the human depicted in Konishi’s group portraits including this work is not a human image of the ego separated from others. Instead, it is interpreted as a social image of human beings formed based on mutual relationships. Family is the smallest unit of society. Konishi uses the group portrait of family as a neutral representation of human beings, neither the ego nor others, Therefore, the “individual” is hidden as much as possible in Konishi’s works.
