Artist Sophia Chizuco at the exhibit opening
A circle reflects eternity—an unbroken line that has no beginning and no end.
Japanese artist Sophia Shizuco has found her language, and she expresses her insights through circles in circles
using vivid colors.
This motif is evident in “Stardust,” her first solo travelling exhibit, presented by Hiraya Gallery and happening at the Radisson Blu Hotel until July 30.
According to Sophia, her art is inspired by two things— her love for nature and her father.
Layers of circular motions and colors evoke images of the falling night, the cascading of a waterfall, the colorful mountain, and bloom of cherry blossoms—all these reflecting where Sophia was born and raised in the countryside of Japan, surrounded by mountains, green tea fields, and the Pacific Ocean.
“I’ve always wanted to be an abstract painter since I was little. But my teacher told me that I should learn the basics first,” she tells. This is the reason why she left her home country for New York City, to pursue her art.
“In Japan, there was still no good abstract painter at that time. So I went to New York and there I met very creative painters at school,” Sophia added.
The colorful layers of circles also hints at her father’s profession as a microbiologist, a visual representation of molecular attraction, fusion reaction, ions and atoms. But Sophia’s favorite piece in the show is also her biggest work to date, “Molecular Attraction,” which measures 183cm by 183cm.
“I am not just into abstract art,” she tells us. “Sometimes I want to do fun art like this character I drew, which is named Froggie. I call these space frogs, like this frog as Zorro, another one in a kabuki… So this is my kind of fun stuff. Actually Hiraya has already sold four copies of such.”