Yu Kobayashi 果てしない Boundless

Sea View is pleased to present 果てしない Boundless , a solo exhibition of new works by Yu Kobayashi (b. 1957, Aichi, JP). Kobayashi is an artist whose practice is indistinguishable from the grounded rhythms of her daily life and movements. From her seaside home and studio in Shizuoka, across from the sacred vistas of Mount Fuji, Kobayashi regularly journals her dynamic physical regimen and dreams rooted in unbridled movement and play. From swimming in the ocean every morning, to trampolining and gymnastics, to growing and cooking much of the food she eats, the artist’s spirited lifestyle embodies a flow-state structure through which her work unfolds intuitively and in flux with the natural environment. Kobayashi’s unstretched paintings are made on the bare ground in wide strokes, often outdoors weather-permitting. Liable to be dusted by the wind and sand of the nearby Pacific, the canvas becomes both surface and field of action. Akin to the visceral awareness of moving through water or on a trampoline, Kobayashi employs her entire body to produce sweeping, continuous gestures that extend beyond the edges of the support. Permeating these calligraphic marks is Kobayashi’s innate appreciation for nature, movement, and their creative communion. Inspired by the energetic first blooms of spring, Kobayashi revisits previous travels through the landscape of dreams. Accompanying this series of paintings is a new suite of ceramic and lacquered Japanese cedar sculptures made by Kobayashi. In an earthy palette dappled with the dancerly cadence of light, water, and flora, this body of work refuses hard edges, sharp lines, or any sense of strict determinancy– evoking the symmetry of a life and practice existing harmoniously and whole-heartedly.