Year: 2023
Medium: oil, charcoal and pastel on canvas
Dimensions: 130 x 162 cm (51 3/16 x 63 3/4 in.)
Acquired from White Cube, 2024
A painting rendered in blue is a novel venture for Matsumoto. The artist has consistently worked in abstract expression, creating works in specific colors—including pink, green, black, and gray. On the verge of turning 88, Matsumoto seeks to deepen her artistic practice. A deep, oceanic blue serves as the base for this work, the surface of which is filled with tension as a result of the gentle transitions in light and dark, accompanied by fluid brushstrokes. Pastels appears to have been used for the majority of the blue, but the occasional use of black charcoal and white oil paint serve as forceful interventions in the tranquil harmony of the blue—a result of the sharp linearity that seems to be brought about more by the colors than the differences in material. Sprinkles of green, purple, and red amidst the sea of blue act as embellishments, adding nuanced variations to the composition. Here is an example of a completely new combination of color and form, belonging to neither the pink nor green series held in our collection. As Matsumoto often stresses, color dictates form, and form gives rise to color, and this work embodies the spirit of the artist’s abstract expression.
