Hombroich 2000

Katsuhito Nishikawa made this piece, titled Hombroich, and it seems to be composed solely of white. At first glance, it might look like a blank canvas. But get closer and you'll discover a whole world in the details. The texture isn't uniform; there's a subtle dance of highs and lows, a quiet conversation between rough and smooth. I'm imagining thin layers of paint applied with something soft, maybe a rag, that's been built up, almost like sediment. The opacity isn’t fully opaque, and there's a sense of light filtering through, catching on the tiny variations of the surface. The overall effect is strangely calming, like looking at a cloudy sky on a windless day. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's work, but with a more pronounced surface quality. I think it's a reminder that art can be about the subtle and the quiet, and about finding the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.