Whitestone Gallery Hong Kong is pleased to present “MIWA KOMATSU: DIVINE SPIRIT,” an exhibition of the artist’s latest works including acrylic and mixedmedia paintings, painted koma-inu sculptures, and scroll paintings over Hakata-ori textile. Komatsu has drawn inspiration from the various countries she had visited, articulating her observation and senses from the places through vibrant, powerful paintings that intrigue viewers with other-worldly sensation.

Miwa Komatsu was born in 1984 in Nagano in Japan. In her childhood, she had close contact with many living creatures thanks to the rich natural environment, and the experience of being present at their final moment led the artist to form her unique view of life and death. She has always related to the purity of nature and sentiment, vividly depicting divine creatures in her work. She started out as a copperplate engraving artist after graduated from Joshibi College of Art and Design in Tokyo, since then she has enlarged her ways of expression to vibrant acrylic and mixedmedia paintings and even to Arita porcelain, through which she has presented various works adopted the theme of divine SPIRIT.

Her earlier practice with copperplate engraving takes important position in her art making, especially black and white monochromatic ways of expression. Komatsu states that this is also where her creativity has started as a young artist, and later developed to vibrant and dynamic acrylic paintings as she becomes more mature and encounters diverse beliefs and people through her traveling different cultures and places.

For this exhibition, Komatsu has created a series of monochrome works which bears the unmistakable trace of the artist’s earlier creations. She also prepared colourful large scale paintings with multiple hues and textures, boldly expressing her visual language. Komatsu’s gesture has taken on a developed dynamism, invite viewers to her creative energy and spontaneous movements. For Komatsu, her art making process, how her works interact with viewers, and further connect people through her art that transcends specific country or culture, is a divine affair.

Komatsu presented a consecutive solo exhibitions at Museum of Tetsu, Kitano Museum of Art Annex and Ueda City Museum of Art in Nagano, and in 2014, she dedicated her painting “Shin-Fudoki” to Izumo Grande Shrine. In 2015, Komatsu exhibited her Arita porcelain guardian dogs at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, the work won the Gold Prize and entered into the permanent collection of the British Museum, making her the youngest artist collected by the Museum at that time. The artist is gaining attentions internationally, her work is also collected by World Trade Centre in New York, and she was awarded the Best Young Artist of the Year 2017 by Tian Gala in China. In 2018, the artist became the Official Ambassador for Maison Christian Dior. She is now setting new records in attendance for her solo exhibitions across cities, posing huge impacts on Japan’s art scene and being active in various aspects.

In March 2019, Miwa Komatsu will present a live painting in Hong Kong at Pacific Place, where she would be drawing vibrant energy from the city and creating a brand new work. Besides, the artist launched a new catalogue in December 2018, she will be present and sign her catalogues for a limit of 100 art lovers at the exhibition opening at H Queen’s.