(En) Video script | Details of reality - keiko ogawa
Barcelon 2020 / Keiko Ogawa, painter
I was born in Tokyo.
I arrived in Barcelona in 2005. Here, I met many realistic painters. I was fascinated by their works.
Still-life painting
While I was adapting to the new life, one day, in the studio in Barcelona, I decided to paint from life. I put an apple on the table and tried to portray it. In Japan, I had a teacher who worked between figuration and abstraction. My painting followed his style. Learning that time brought me to play and enjoy the colors a lot. But, my imagination was losing momentum and the painting was becoming repetitive in the last days in Japan. So like that, I refreshed the way of approaching my painting, towards naturalism.
I think that portraying a human face as well as portraying a fruit are the best challenge I could enjoy as a painter. And I think, fruits as well as objects have a soul like people.
I like to work with modest and close objects and natural light at a distance within reach. Natural light changes every second. It takes the maximum concentration to capture it. If I don’t get it, I look for the same light the next day at the same time. I study each object, its smell, touch, light, its presence, and its identity. I try to express all this in my painting.
It's said that Miró was interested in the inside, he dedicated himself to the secret life of things. I guess that’s what I want to capture and convey in my painting. But I am also interested in outward appearance. Reality has so many details, so much life, I think it’s worth enjoying.
Interior space
I do themes of interior spaces. I like to deal it with the human presence. I think the expression intimate realism defines my painting very well.
My painting does not represent any story. At least I don’t have that intention. Each viewer will have their story connecting their experience in relation to my work.
It’s fun to find difficulties and have surprises. So I take on complex subjects increasingly . I don’t know how I will be able to interpret and explain reality at the beginning of the painting many times. I stop often during the process and keep studying, until the picture is resolved.
Epilogue
Time flies. I have already spent 15 years in Barcelona. I have exhibitions in different cities regularly . But my routine is, here in the "factory", to continue working and creating works for a new project.
Keiko Ogawa