Strange dreamscapes, creatures without name, and dazzling contrasts in color and texture mark the newest exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: “Awakening” by contemporary artist Ryo Toyonaga.
The collection is an assortment of Toyonaga’s art, inspired by recurring dreams and subconscious influence. The Barker Gallery of the JSMA is arranged with nineteen drawings and paintings of varying size, as well as multiple works of sculpture. Toyonaga’s sculptures are ceramic and papier maché, and he works primarily with sumi ink and acryclic in his two-dimensional art.
“He’s working with very opposite mediums here, but there’s a shared vernacular,” said exhibit curator Lawrence Fong to audience members of a staff preview on Friday.
Indeed, Toyonaga’s works are striking for much more than their demonstrative technical prowess, visually, they are captivating to say the least. He often relates his creative process to peering into an ocean (meaning his subconscious mind) and discovering the creatures that live there. Describing Toyonaga’s creatures is an almost impossible task, and really, letting the visuals speak for themselves is the only true way to do the art justice. There are some recurring elements, however; the shapes seem to reach out to the viewer with multiple strange appendages that make the painting or sculpture an amalgam of natural and bionic. Toyonaga’s ceramics include a variety of textures within one work. Meanwhile his paintings juxtapose his mysterious, visceral dream-creatures with elements of an urban infrastructure, usually set in the context of a vast landscape.
Toyonaga may be inspired by his subconscious mind, but it seems his environment plays some role in his creations. He grew up in Matsuyama, a coastal city in Japan, and moved to New York City in 1986. It doesn’t seem coincidental that cityscapes and water both have heavy presences in his acrylic works. From 1995 to 2003 he worked solely in sculpture at a secluded cabin in the Catskill Mountains called Red Kill studio. It was only in 2005 that Toyonaga began working with papier maché, and since 2010 he has worked with acrylics. The most recent work in the exhibit is from earlier this year.
“I don’t use any high-tech equipment. I just use my hands,” Toyonaga said at the preview. A shy and quiet man, he speaks very humbly about the origins of his art.
Fong, meanwhile, has no shortage of praise, regarding the scale on which most of his work is created in particular. “When you draw small, it’s easier to control what you’re doing. When you do something eight times bigger, it’s going to be harder. He can transform his ideas that way. It’s extraordinary talent.”
Members are invited to come view the exhibit or attend one of the monthly lectures or concerts built around it. Membership at JSMA is free for University of Oregon students, and allows for access to member receptions and events. In addition, any student with a membership is granted an alumni membership after graduation. “Awakening” will be open at the Schnitzer until January 4th, 2015.