Miwa Komatsu
The mythology of painting
“I try to speak of universal truths.”
Miwa Komatsu has one main objective in her practice – to translate spirituality into works of art. Working across different media, she explores Japanese folklore, Buddhism and other mythologies. She grew up in Nagano, the city with the highest mountains in Japan. This gave her "a deep sense of connection with the outside world, far beyond physical borders.” Her process often begins with prayer and meditation. This is a crucial part of connecting with the immaterial world she strives to channel. While Komatsu is best known for her paintings, she’s also made etchings, porcelain sculptures and vi...
Miwa Komatsu has one main objective in her practice – to translate spirituality into works of art. Working across different media, she explores Japanese folklore, Buddhism and other mythologies. She grew up in Nagano, the city with the highest mountains in Japan. This gave her "a deep sense of connection with the outside world, far beyond physical borders.” Her process often begins with prayer and meditation. This is a crucial part of connecting with the immaterial world she strives to channel. While Komatsu is best known for her paintings, she’s also made etchings, porcelain sculptures and virtual reality experiences. At exhibitions and events, she often paints live – showing how performative the painting process can be.
A prominent inspiration for Komatsu is Kūkai, also known as Kobo Daishi – a Japanese monk and calligrapher. Seeing his scrolls made her realise that art often outlives the artist. This made her consider her work as a form of mythology. In Next Mandala – The Great Harmonisation (2022), for example, she opts for her own abstract symbols rather than referencing a specific iconography. She also paints traditional komainu and yomainu figures but depicts them in her own psychedelic visual language. As she puts it, "mythology isn’t something that’s restricted to the ancient past. Rather, it’s connected to the present and to the future."
Miwa Komatsu was born in Nagano, Japan in 1984. She lives and works between Nagano and Tokyo.
The yamainu (mountain-dog) figures in Komatsu’s paintings are inspired by an experience she had as a child. She once got lost in a forest in Nagano and envisioned this mythical creature guiding her home. It reappears in her art as a symbol of “the proper way to live, the correct path.”
In 2015, Komatsu decorated a pair of porcelain komainu (lion dogs) for the Chelsea flower show. These now form part of the British Museum’s permanent collection.
