Year: 2012
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 181.1 x 227.3 cm (71 1/4 x 89 1/2 in.)
Acquired from Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2022
Compared to Kudo's early works in the 2000s which were pointed out for their vivid colors and influence from Fauve, the works from around 2010s have a somewhat oppressive darkness covering the canvas. If we roughly classify her works by decade, it can be said that her style in the recent 2020s has become brighter and more open. From such a perspective, this work is a good example showing the characteristics of the 2010s. A figure depicted in light blue is lying in mid-air. The brooding look and appearance that the arms and legs seem to be hung by the trees are imbued with a sense of melancholy. Unlike the figure which looks detached from reality, the forest expanding in the background is full of vitality, with the powerfully depicted verticality of the rising conifer. The glimpses of the blue sky through the treetops suggest that it is not an entirely dark forest. Perhaps the reddish light of the setting sun streams in here and there to the lower trunks. Like the scene illuminated with red to the inside of the deep forest, the heart of the light blue figure which appears with a cold look, may be burning quietly.
