May 8 - June 14, 2008

The Pool, 2008, oil on wood 15 3/4 x 14 7/8 in., Like A Plant, oil on wood, 11 7/8 x 11 3/4 in.

M.Y. ART PROSPECTS is pleased to present Like a Plant, our fourth solo exhibition by Belgium based German painter, Hans Benda. The exhibition features a total of fifteen small landscapes and portraits of women, all painstakingly executed in oil on wood panels. Benda, a mid-career artist, has long pursued these two subjects, "the biggest clichés of art" as he half-jokingly puts it. This exhibition well testifies to their universal appeal to humankind throughout history.

Whether landscape or portrait, Benda's Realist paintings are almost completely invented. Benda begins his paintings by meditating on photo materials he either finds or takes himself. But along the way that image evolves into a totally imaginative creation with a life of its own. "What looks like a portrait/landscape is not a portrait/landscape," he perversely remarks. He puts together 'patterns' of horizon, trees, foregrounds and sky until he arrives at a unique landscape of the mind. Applying the brush layer upon layer, he builds an image that documents all stages of his memory since the work's inception.

Benda's acclaimed portraits of young contemporary women mimic the Northern European art tradition of depicting the anonymous, idealized woman who rivets the viewer with her gaze and gestures of ennui. The backgrounds of Benda's women portraits are intricately patterned walls, decorative furniture, pots of plants, or mysterious doorways, offering the viewer a fascinating variety of interpretations for a single painting. By extending the notions of established beauty to the fringes of kitsch, Benda manages to convey an intense and personal desire for femininity.

Born in 1960 in Berlin, Hans Benda studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, Germany. His solo and group shows have been held in Germany, Belgium, France, United States, Japan, and Bangladesh. His exhibition "Kissing the Ground" in 2004 was reviewed by Grace Glueck for The New York Times. For this exhibition, there will be a catalog with a preface essay by the NY-based art critic, Jill Conner.

Trees 0801, 2008, sumi ink on hemp paper

In our Project Room, we are pleased to present new paintings by Japanese-born Takako Azami. For more than a decade, Azami has been painting monochrome ink paintings inspired by the trees in her immediate environment. She has painted the ancient pine tree in front of her house in Japan over a dozen times in the last decade. Her latest obsession is the tree she can see from the window of her present apartment in Manhattan. This long commitment to the simple subject of a tree contributes to a rich spectrum of artistic expressions, an almost Impressionist take on natural light and ephemeral beauty. Her signature black and white dots depict the ever-changing patterns of branches and leaves reflected in sunlight.

"The morning sunray was so clear. The trees from my apartment window looked different with every passing second. From 9:30 am, I sat for three hours by the window and observed the sunrays in the street, the winter trees, and the windows of the apartment across the way." ---Takako Azami

Takako Azami was born in 1964 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She graduated from Tama University of Fine Arts with a B.A. in painting with an emphasis on Japanese-style painting. She has been invited to exhibit in such important group exhibitions as "The Vision of 'Nihonga': Between the Inside and the Outside," The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan and "The Tenth International Art Fair 'ART MOSCOW'," Moscow City Hall Cultural Committee, Russia. Her recent solo exhibitions include "Viewing Light," Art Front Gallery/Art Interactive Tokyo, Japan in 2006 and Gertsev Gallery, Moscow, Russia in 2006 and Citizens Gallery of Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo in 2006.

Takako Azami is the recipient of a 2007-08 fellowship to study in the US for a period of one year in the Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists.

ARTISTS | SHOWS | PAST SHOWS | EVENTS | INVENTORY | M.Y. ART BOOKS | INFO | CONTACT