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Lot Essay
Masaru Shichinohe's creative work was inspired by early 20th century Japanese fantasy novelist Inagaki Tairuho's earthly delight of dreamy world, whose works often dealt with themes including a world of machines, airplanes, fairies, geometrical shapes, boys and astronomical object. These themes resonate within Shichinohe's works and transcend into symbols such as the clock, the floating box, the leaping rabbit, the compass, the celestial object, and the prism. The heroine in his painting is often an austere looking girl dressed in a nurse uniform against a background that resembles a surgery room during the Victorian era. The backdrop of this historical setting is in reference to the great industrialisation that had taken part in Europe, Japan and in the United States, an era that carried mankind's utopian dream to a mechanised world. The objects created by the proliferation and advancements in the fields of science, medicine and engineering during this era serves as the basis to the visual aesthetic in Shichinohe's painting, where the nostalgia of this bygone era is once enlivened.
In Family (Lot 561) Shichinohe's heroine is dressed in her iconic nurse uniform with a red arm badge with a symbol of the leaping rabbit, composed and poised in her solitude with streams of crystal-like tears dripping vertically down the ample cheek, her arms raised as if she is beholding on a missing object. Perhaps it is her beloved rabbit that is absent from the supposed family portrait that give clue to the tears on her cheek. In A Moment (Lot 560) the muted sepia tones and shades dominate the background, leaving the subject matter to take over and narrate the story within. The simple white basin and the clock are cropped in the background, with the leaping rabbit floating over the seated girl who seems to be reading a verse from the book on her lap; together the composition suggests a moment in time which is captured in motion with a camera. Shichinohe's works always have an air of surreal scenario, with each painting acting as a singular frame that entails to a chapter of his tale. His works invite the viewer to immerse into his fantasy world, like a puzzle that invites viewer to trace the bread crumbles to map out the tale through the objects and symbols that are vigilantly composed within each of his painting. His paintings provide the platform for one to immerse oneself into the fantasy world, where time comes to a standstill and a once forgotten tale comes alive.
In Family (Lot 561) Shichinohe's heroine is dressed in her iconic nurse uniform with a red arm badge with a symbol of the leaping rabbit, composed and poised in her solitude with streams of crystal-like tears dripping vertically down the ample cheek, her arms raised as if she is beholding on a missing object. Perhaps it is her beloved rabbit that is absent from the supposed family portrait that give clue to the tears on her cheek. In A Moment (Lot 560) the muted sepia tones and shades dominate the background, leaving the subject matter to take over and narrate the story within. The simple white basin and the clock are cropped in the background, with the leaping rabbit floating over the seated girl who seems to be reading a verse from the book on her lap; together the composition suggests a moment in time which is captured in motion with a camera. Shichinohe's works always have an air of surreal scenario, with each painting acting as a singular frame that entails to a chapter of his tale. His works invite the viewer to immerse into his fantasy world, like a puzzle that invites viewer to trace the bread crumbles to map out the tale through the objects and symbols that are vigilantly composed within each of his painting. His paintings provide the platform for one to immerse oneself into the fantasy world, where time comes to a standstill and a once forgotten tale comes alive.