In the depth of Karamatsu wood
There
is a passage for me to walk.
Misty
rain is falling on the path
The
mountain breeze circulates through
it.
– Kitahara
Hokushu
“Kitahara Hokushu’s poem,
“Karamatsu Woods” (from which this stanza is
taken) has been a major influence in my work and reflects both my
nature and my
philosophy.
Although I have been painting most
of my life, this retrospective
exhibition displays works for the last 15 years since I received my
Master of
Fine Arts in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute.
I invite the viewers to follow me
along my path through Karamatsu Woods
and be awed by the journey as I have.”
– Chiyomi Taneike
Longo, Ensenada, Baja California, February 2010
A multitude of enthusiastic art aficionados and well wishers
from both sides of the border gathered at Ensenada’s Centro Estatal de
las
Artes (CEARTE) on the evening of February 26, 2010, for the
inauguration of
“Susurros
y Expresiones (Whispers & Utterances),” an exposition of
works by
celebrated Japanese American abstract artist
Chiyomi Taneike Longo.
Sponsored
by the United States Consulate General in Tijuana and ADC Contemporary
Art
Gallery in Los Angeles, California, “Susurros y Expresiones” is a
retrospective
of Chiyomi’s body of work created between 1995 and 2010. The
well-received
exhibition features more than fifty powerful, large format mixed media
paintings and collages that harmoniously adorn the walls of CEARTE’s
spacious
Sala Internacional.
Left
to right: Marisa Caichiolo, Director of Artdecollectors
(ADC) Contemporary Art Gallery, artist Chiyomi Taneike Longo, and Jaime
Delfín,
Director of Visual and Fine Arts at CEARTE, preside over the inaugural
ribbon
cutting ceremonies.
Many of Chiyomi’s paintings are series that exemplify her
philosophy. “White Passage” is a sequence of paintings with a limited
palette
that explores the inner spirit of her natural surroundings and inner
self. In
her “Seed of the Mind” series, Chiyomi employs collaged materials and
shapes to
express the continuation of her journey. In her “Kaicho of Sumi” works,
Chiyomi
utilizes traditional Japanese sumi ink in diverse and innovative ways
that
contribute to the dynamism of her abstract forms.
“The
pace of nature, natural cycles, and the scale and texture of
natural forms all define the flavor of Japanese civilization; likewise,
they
constitute the very core of Longo’s painting, determining both the
pulse of the
work and the very reason for its existence. Longo does not merely look
at
nature; she loses herself in it, dissolving the boundaries of identity
and
experience...continuing to bridge traditional Eastern and recent
Western
approaches.”
– Curator and art
critic Peter Frank, Los Angeles, California, August 2007
Born in Japan, Chiyomi Taneike Longo immigrated to the
United States in the 1950s. She received her formal art training at the
San
Francisco Art Institute, where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts
in 1992
and her Master of Fine Arts in 1995. She resides in Santa Rosa,
California,
where she shares an art studio with her husband and best friend of more
than
forty years, abstract artist
Al
Longo.
Chiyomi
with her husband Al, to whom she dedicated her
retrospective exhibition, “Susurros y Expresiones.”
Chiyomi’s paintings are part of public and private
collections and have been featured on the film sets of TV shows like
Will and Grace,
CSI, 24, and
Alias,
and
movies like
Red, White and Blonde,
Mr.
& Mrs. Smith, and
She’s Just Not That Into You.
She has held
solo expositions in Arizona, Oregon, and northern and southern
California, and
has taken part in collective exhibitions in the United States, Japan,
Thailand
and Korea. In Mexico, Chiyomi participated in the
“LELA-Ensenada
International
Exposition of Contemporary Art” in 2005, the
“2nd Annual
International
Exposition of Contemporary Art and Art Camp” in Ensenada in 2006,
and
“Building
Bridges Mexico/USA 2008-2010” in Ensenada, Mexicali and Tijuana.
“Susurros y
Expresiones” is her first retrospective and her first one-woman show in
Mexico.
At the opening reception, Chiyomi stated that she felt truly honored to
hold
her first retrospective in Ensenada, a city that holds special meaning
for her.
“We’ve been visiting Ensenada for seven or eight years, and each time
we
arrive, it’s like coming home. We make new friends every time we visit
and we
are always welcomed warmly by our old friends.”
“Susurros y Expresiones” grew out of the
international art
exchange “Building Bridges” that was initiated in 2008 by the Instituto
de
Cultura de Baja California (ICBC) in conjunction with
Artdecollectors (ADC)
Contemporary Art Gallery of Los Angeles, California. The concept of
the program
is to bring a compact group of international artists to Ensenada and in
turn,
promote a group of Baja California artists outside of Mexico and expose
them to
the world. “‘Building Bridges’ creates a meaningful and lasting
connection
between the artists, their countries and cultures, as well as a
relationship
between the artists and viewers,” states Marisa Caichiolo, the director
of ADC
Gallery.
“Susurros y Expresiones” is a unique opportunity to share a
remarkable spiritual journey and experience the natural creative vision
of Chiyomi
Taneike Longo. Exhibition hours are 8am-8pm Monday-Saturday and
11am-6pm on
Sunday. Admission is free. CEARTE offers free English and Spanish
guided tours
of the exposition from 9am-noon and 3-7pm Monday-Friday by reservation
only.
For information, call the reception desk at (646)173-4307 or 173-4308,
ext. 101
or
e-mail “Susurros y
Expresiones” will remain at
CEARTE through May 1, 2010. Ensenada’s Centro Estatal de las Artes is
located
on the corner of Blvd. Costero (Lázaro Cárdenas) and
& Av. Club Rotario,
opposite the Riviera Cultural Center clock tower.
