Earthy Abstractions

By Jessica Dawson
Special to the Washington Post
Friday, March 14, 2008; Page C02

- Earth, sky, moon, sun. It's a veritable environmental science class inside Mu Project, where Shinji Turner-Yamamoto exhibits abstract paintings and wall works, many incorporating ash and several "painted" by raindrops. The works in the artist's "rainbow" series were made, in part, as raindrops fell onto a layer of ash and formed abstract patterns; he then sealed the ash onto clear acetate and suspended the page over colored canvas. The result looks like clouds obscuring a rainbow. In the gallery's rear room, dramatically lit gold- and silver-leafed abstract paintings evoke constellations. Ireland's soggy weather -- experienced firsthand during a residency there -- served as the show's co-author and inspiration.

By Jessica Dawson
Special to the Washington Post
Friday, November 9, 2007; Page C02

Hiroshi Kobayashi's canvases depict plush animals and dolls come to life -- or is it death? In some works the animals inhabit a nowhere land described by a monochromatic background; the space appears so lifeless that it could be stuffed-animal heaven. Other pictures by the Japanese-born artist hint at architecture or landscape, adding a narrative element that sends the monkeys and lions on a mission -- though where they're headed isn't clear. The most interesting of Kobayashi's animals suggest an inner life and motivations as opaque as our own: A teddy staring off into the distance could be contemplating his own mortality. So much for childhood innocence.

Gen Aihara at Mu Project

Japanese-born photographer Gen Aihara picked up some remarkable skills from his boss, the photo-based artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. While Sugimoto's sublime installation hangs at the Hirshhorn Museum, Aihara shows a small but striking selection of black-and-white prints uptown at Georgetown's Mu Project. Like his mentor, Aihara makes work that's sexy and cerebral.
Aihara's subject is bubbles and condensation. Though that may sound banal, the photographer paints bubbles directly on photo emulsion using a photogram-like process that yields hyper-real images with intriguing textures. Aihara can conjure a touchable, suedelike surface with seeming ease. He breaks ladybug-size water droplets down into so many puckering mouths.
These water works are a marked improvement over a suite of 2002 prints in the gallery's rear room. Those pictures' surrealism -- a toilet seat emerges from a seaside fog like Excalibur from the mists -- comes off as shtick.