So we finally realised the exhibition of TAMAI Shinya in Paris! We have been wanting to bring his beautiful pieces in Paris, and it came true.
And what the most exciting thing? TAMAI came with his wife to Paris too!
So we organised two events with him, one for the opening with the artist, and artist talk. We had a great young YouTuber Rodolphe Miez (YouTube @imRodolphe) as a interviewer, and we live streamed it on Instagram of the local gallery account. Amazingly, Rodolphe speaks fluent Japanese and English, thus it was easier to handle for us…
The interview went rather well (even we were a bit nervous). We described what is Nihon-ga; Japanese painting in the interview. We talked in English and Japanese, and answered questions like; what is Japanese painting, its history, the techniques,,, etc. TAMAI demonstrated how to make the gradation in Nihonga using Japanese ink and water at the last.
Nihonga is a term to address the paintings which had been practiced in Japan when European paintings introduced in Japan in the mid to end 19th C. Therefore this term contains many different approaches toward a painting. TAMAI introduced his approach, which uses washi Japanese paper, Japanese ink, Nikawa glue, mineral pigments, and gold leaves.
His themes are also rather traditional. We can see dragons and drunk frogs, which are traditional figures. At the same time his expression is not simply traditional. TAMAI’s creatures are interpreted in contemporary culture, so they talk to you.
It was great experience to live stream the artist talk, and talk about the technique and history of Nihonga to Paris public. If you happen to be in Paris around, hope you can see the exhibition. TAMAI Shinya solo exhibition is until 24th December 2023 at 12 rue de la Sourdiere 75001 Paris, and after 26th there will be another exhibition of Japanese artists.
