Even without attending university, Usami Keiji knew he would become an artist. By his early twenties, his resolve had borne fruit, with his artistic work drawing acclaim. In 1965, he encountered photographs of African American civil rights protestors in Life magazine and, believing he saw in them the universal structures and principles that governed the world, he started using them as motifs in his paintings—a practice he continued for the rest of this career. This painting predates that period, yet its technique—creating layers of color while allowing the outline of a rectangle to appear and disappear through countless brushstrokes, completely filling the surface—reminds us of the composition of his later works. The interplay of colors—blue and white blended with purple, red, yellow, black, and other colors—begets a complex form of expression. Furthermore, the fine yet vigorous brushwork conveys both gentleness and dynamism. Perhaps that juxtaposition mirrors the state of the artist’s mind. (YATSUYANAGI Sae)
Even without attending university, Usami Keiji knew he would become an artist. By his early twenties, his resolve had borne fruit, with his artistic work drawing acclaim. In 1965, he encountered photographs of African American civil rights protestors in Life magazine and, believing he saw in them the universal structures and principles that governed the world, he started using them as motifs in his paintings—a practice he continued for the rest of this career. This painting predates that period, yet its technique—creating layers of color while allowing the outline of a rectangle to appear and disappear through countless brushstrokes, completely filling the surface—reminds us of the composition of his later works. The interplay of colors—blue and white blended with purple, red, yellow, black, and other colors—begets a complex form of expression. Furthermore, the fine yet vigorous brushwork conveys both gentleness and dynamism. Perhaps that juxtaposition mirrors the state of the artist’s mind.
(YATSUYANAGI Sae)