RISA SEKIGUCHI: RECENT PAINTINGS
The subjects of the 16 small, untitled paintings in Sekiguchi’s current show at the Chicago Cultural Center are, on the surface, nothing out of the ordinary–simple still-life arrangements, and solitary figures in interiors or landscapes. But many of them are charged by the strange, unreal quality of early evening light and by its function as a signifier for states of transition or emotional upheaval. One painting, for example, presents a dark red sky filled with heavy black clouds massed above a low horizon. Placed against this dramatic evening sky is a standing nude figure, seen from the side and painted, unexpectedly, in dark shades of green. This isolated figure appears to embrace a blue black shadow that is only half present: the shadow has arms that embrace in return, but the rest of its body fades into darkness. A strong sense of painful separation, of closeness lost and longed for, is conveyed by this twilight scene.
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Her kinship with Hopper is evident in paintings of single figures standing in barren, windowless rooms. Hopper’s light is always sharper and more logical than Sekiguchi’s–the source of the dim, diffuse light in her interior scenes is never quite clear. But common to both painters is a sense of isolation. No matter how familiar and ordinary their surroundings, Hopper’s individuals, whether alone or not, always seem slightly ill at ease, their thoughts turned inward. Sekiguchi’s figures are their descendants, whose spiritual and emotional difficulties are even more acute.
