Art Of The Day Weekly

Sawada, a look behind the looking glass

Sawada Mitsuharu (born in 1947), represents a generation of artists who are astride two continents. An adolescent in the poorer suburbs of Osaka where one had to know how to use one’s fists, graduated from the University of Kyoto and then from the Royal academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, he first built his reputation on a flawless hyperrealism. Paul Delvaux took note of his talent while he assimilated the technique of the old Flemish masters whom he reproduced in his figurative compositions– women at their windows or perfect flowers. A personal cross to bear – an illness that almost paralysed him– and his cure through martial arts (of which today he is a well-respected master) pushed him to look behind the attractive appearance of things. His recent production seems to be the exact opposite of his first period: large monochrome paintings, dotted with minute accidents, small reliefs, unnoticed shadows. A sort of symphony on matter, on illusion, on the plenty and the void: this is almost an exercise of philosophy.
• Sawada is presented at the galerie Nichido (61, Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008), from 21 April to 28 May 2016.

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