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KENJI KOJIMA / Artist Statement:
In the late 20th century I became uncomfortable with the direction of contemporary art. I wished for a more fundamental approach, a motivation more like the artist/craftsmen of long ago. In the medieval age artists developed their vision through a devotion to skills and to understanding their materials.
My first painting series, “Guardian Deities in the City,” presented street objects of New York. I started in 1980 using egg tempera - medieval techniques and materials. The paintings entwined art and craft. Paintings were built in increments, carefully, one step followed the next.
My series, “Waves,” around 1986, was created around concrete images with abstracted forms. I became interested in surrounding phenomenon, or causation, more than the objects themselves.
The following series, “Stream,” was shown at Gallery SAKIKO New York. It needed careful planing and visualization. It is a requirement of the medium, and of my technique of high impasto combined with silver - when the paint touches the panel - the artist is committed. It is not possible to erase, or change directions. I began to use a computer for making plans for these paintings. It sent me in a new direction. Most of my art has been made by computer following, “Stream.”
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About Egg Tempera:
Egg tempera employs egg yolk as a binder, the way oil paint uses oil. Egg tempera is best applied on a hard gessoed ground. Egg tempera is an extremely durable material, more durable than oil paint. It was used by icon painters during the last 100 years of the Byzantine Empire and flourished for 200 years thereafter, into the early Renaissance. Artists such as Giotto, Cimabue, and Simone Martini preferred it. Egg tempera reached a peak of technical maestri with Fra Angelico and Sandro Botticelli.
My paintings are represented in:
The Amerada Hess Corporation, New York, NY
CITIBANK, New York, NY
Milbank Tweed Hodley McCoy, New York, NY
As well as various other private collections.
My digital arts are archived in:
Rhizome at The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
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