The Entity Stirs
A mythical beast steps out from the maelstrom.
Miwa Komatsu’s paintings are guided by a deeply personal spiritual outlook. Yamainu-san are wolf-like divine beings, encountered by Komatsu as a child an...
A mythical beast steps out from the maelstrom.
Miwa Komatsu’s paintings are guided by a deeply personal spiritual outlook. Yamainu-san are wolf-like divine beings, encountered by Komatsu as a child and now found – wide eyed and cosmic – throughout her dazzling artworks.
In The Entity Stirs, a Yamainu-san emerges from an ocean of lace-like white marks surrounded by mountains and fire. Based on an original painting, the edition layers a flatbed print with three silkscreen layers including fluorescent ink and flashes of gold.
The dazzling eyes at the artwork’s centre are of particular significance. Komatsu explains that – in a series of epiphanies – the intense stares she is confronted by in otherworldly encounters have broadened her own vision, and helped her to paint.
Each print is accompanied by a copy of The Great Harmonisation – an illustrated poem conceived as an introduction to the conceptual framework of Komatsu’s practice.