Pip Dickens — Patterns of Shadows  | Daiwa Anglo- Japanese Foundation, London

6 Mar- 17 Apr 2012  |  Solo Exhibition

“…we find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows.

 

Patterns of Shadows is an exhibition of oil paintings by Pip Dickens, derived from her research in Kyoto in 2011 (just days after the Fukishima disaster).  It formed part of a Leverhulme Trust Award Artist in Residence project within the Music Department of the University of Huddersfield and collaboration with composer Professor Monty Adkins. The paintings (oil on canvas) draw upon colour, pattern, rhythm and vibration, associated with kimono fabrics and katagami stencils, and frequently juxtapose these with quieter, understated greys, shadows and subtle interplays of light. These extractive works observe distinctions within Japanese visual culture – sometimes celebratory, playful and exuberant, at other times subtle, introspective and reflective. The works are produced using bespoke tools, combs and ‘dysfunctional’ brushes to produce intriguing oscillating effects set against quieter, meditative, colour fields. Dickens draws on references such as Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s essay on aesthetics, In Praise of Shadows, as well as her own private collection of katagami stencils and kimonos.