Year: 2022
Medium: oil on linen
Dimensions: 194 x 162 cm (76 5/8 x 63 3/4 in.)
Acquired from ANOMALY, 2022
This painting, titled “Drowsiness,” is composed of a hazy enmeshment of various motifs, characteristic of Imazu’s work. These motifs seem to suggest something through their sequential nature. While the elements—such as the large flower petals, sea creature, tree, skull, fish, Eastern-style mermaid, female figure, and large arm—seem interconnected, there is also a sense of incoherence akin to the disorder felt in a dream. Imazu frequently explores mythology as the subject of his work. Assuming the large painted flower is an anemone, in Greek mythology, it symbolizes death or tragic love. Needless to say, the skull can be interpreted as a symbol of death in the painting. While Hypnos is the god of sleep, he is born from Nyx (Night) and shares this divine parentage with Thanatos and Moros, gods associated with death. Thus, sleep is tied to the realm of death. In Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” famously illustrated by William Blake, Dante, who falls into a deep sleep, is guided by the angel Lucia while in a dream-like state. When viewing this work through the expression “falling asleep,” one can observe a slumber-like serenity, much like drifting in tranquil waters that intertwined with the horror of descending into the dark and deep underworld.
