A new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV), From Brush to Block, will be showcasing a rare, unique collection of traditional Japanese works. The exhibit will feature art by Meiji-era (1868-1912) artists Kono Bairei and Imao Keinen, who are known for their usage of the Kacho-e style during this period in Japanese history. This traditional East Asian artistic genre revolves around detailed portrayals of birds and flowers.
For AGGV curator of Asian art Heng Wu, From Brush to Block represents a unique opportunity to not only showcase the gallery’s Asian art collection, but to also present to Victoria residents culturally relevant art and to show the intricate process and artistry involved in creating such works.
“The visitors can see a painting, and its corresponding print, side by side,” says Wu. “Like the title suggests, from brush to block. [A] brush is a tool that artists use to paint the work, and the block refers to the wood block used in printmaking… Normally we either see paintings or prints, like they are separately shown. But for this exhibition, visitors can see directly, can even compare the original painting and the print, which is created based on that painting, side by side. So, the visitor can examine or even trace the changes between the two media. For example, what has been changed, what has been lost or what has been added? Because you have these two pieces side by side. So, it’s a very direct visual comparison.”
Wu says that this exhibition makes use of one of the AGGV’s strengths: the gallery’s Asian art collection.
“We have over 2,000 Japanese woodblock prints in our collection, and our Asian art takes up half of the entire collection,” says Wu. “So Asian art is a big part of AGGV. That’s why we not only have a permanent gallery of Asian art but also have these special exhibitions all the time, always with different themes. I joined the gallery in 2020, and I have always been trying as much as I could to give opportunities to those pieces that sit or sleep in our storage because we cannot show them all, right? We’ve got so many, but I really want to find opportunities to show them as much as we could.”
Wu says that the exhibit’s focus on the Kacho-e style, with its detailed birds and flowers, will be perfect for Victoria, as the city’s well-known love of nature and gardens will translate to an appreciation for this traditional artistic genre.
“Bird and flower imagery is like [a] perfect match to Victoria’s audience,” says Wu. “Gardening and nature are so important. I want to emphasize that both Bairei and Keinen, the two artists featured in this exhibition, are from [the] Kyoto painting school. The characteristics of this art school is that [it] emphasizes close observation to nature. So that’s why you can see the vivid… details of the bird, the feather, the plants, the flowers are well captured in their works. So, I think that’s something really anchoring the local Victoria culture here. So, I hope local people come to see that this exhibition can really have this resonance with themes, even the atmosphere, contained in these works.”
From Brush to Block
Sunday, May 16 to Sunday, October 11
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
aggv.ca