ART REVIEW
Varying techniques of 4 Hawai'i artists featured in exhibits

By Virginia Gail White
Advertiser Art Critic

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"Tadashi Sato: A Retrospective — Four Themes" "Ocean Harmony: Recent Work by Derek Bencomo" "ten: Recent Paintings and Drawings by Brian Yoshimi Isobe" The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center through Sept. 17 526-1322, ext. 30 Docent-led tours are on the first Thursday each month at noon. A show that will run concurrently opens at The Contemporary Museum at Makiki Heights on June 21. "The Year of the Horse: The Collected Paintings of John Young" 1132 Bishop St., Honolulu, through June 14

Tadashi Sato

Sato is one of Hawai'i's most respected artists. His retrospective exhibit at the The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center and Makiki Heights surveys Sato's paintings, drawings and watercolors.

The works on display were borrowed from public, private, corporate and museum collections here and on the Mainland.

Born in 1923 on Maui, Sato worked in a pineapple cannery until World War II broke out, when he volunteered for the 442nd Infantry. He began his art studies at the Honolulu Academy of Arts at 23. After winning first prize for a poster he did when he was 8, he got a scholarship from Brooklyn Museum Art School and went on to study with Stuart Davis at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.

Sato's understated, balanced compositions are inspired by nature. Their delicate use of color and form are evocative of a world beyond our own, a more orderly consciousness.

James Jensen, The Contemporary Museum's curator, organized this exhibit, which examines the four themes Sato has explored throughout his career: landscapes/seascapes of Nakalele, lava fields, airscapes and sea forms (a recent series inspired by sea urchins.)

Outside the corridor where Sato's work is concentrated, "Hot Lava No. 1" (1975), a large oil on linen, hosts a deep blue sky with red-hot lava fingers seeping through a gray rock bottom. Inside the corridor, "Submerged Rocks," a large painting, is shown with its preliminary ink studies to illustrate how Sato develops many of his works.

"Paper and Air," an oil on linen, floats a white piece of paper like a cloud in a celadon field of color. In "Cloud and Shadow," the cross-hatched brush strokes, which are a signature of his work, are intensive despite the neutral paint colors.

"Sea Urchins", and "Sea Forms," both oils on linen, suggest flying saucers and alien life forms in soft shades of teal and mauve.

There will be more at The Contemporary Museum in Makiki Heights. Stay tuned.

Derek Bencomo

Born in 1962 in California, Maui artist Bencomo came to Hawai'i in 1984 because of his love of water and surfing.

It is no surprise that the title of his show is "Ocean Harmony."

The 25 vessels on display flow and ripple as if they were not made entirely of wood, but solidified earth-colored water. Bencomo works with many woods: koa, milo, sandalwood, monkeypod, pink ivory, pheasant, kamani, kukui nut, sugi pine, Magasar ebony, bottlebrush wood (new to this reviewer) and maple burl.

In "Still Dancing: 3rd View," monkeypod wood spins a turn as if for a waltz. "Come to Me Dancing: 29th View" is a deeply rich, brown and black magasar ebony wood that already seems to know how to tango.

"Gift from the Sea Breeching Vessel" is suggestive of whales, while "Ocean Harmony: 5th View" is intensely sculptural and surprising in its delicate balance. Both are made of milo wood.

His forms, mostly turned and carved, are sometimes balanced on tiny, thinly carved feet. A swish of what could be a fin or a sea plant emerges from the bowl shapes and gives the grain of the wood life and movement.

Brian Yoshimi Isobe

Born in 1954 in Honolulu, Brian Yoshimi Isobe, a fourth-generation Japanese American, lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

The title of his exhibit,"ten," is the Japanese word for sky or heaven. Inspired by Japanese art and craft, Zen Buddhism and nature, Isobe focuses his work on water, sky, leaves, stones and flowers.

His square paintings and works on paper encourage moments of inner reflection. Their abstract qualities have universal appeal. Most of his painted works are large and precisely done, pulling the viewer beyond the painting into a more visceral response.

"Rain," an oil and acrylic on linen, gives the impression of looking at the beauty of rain against street lights.

John Chin Young

Young (1909-1997), a self-taught painter, was born and reared in Honolulu.

He has bequeathed contributions to the art world in Hawai'i, from the Asian collection at the Honolulu Academy of Arts to the John Young Museum at the University of Hawai'i Outreach College and the scholarships awarded from the John Young Foundation, that will forever keep him alive in our hearts.

In the high-tech, 1132 Bishop St. building, "The Year of the Horse" rises to meet the height of the ceilings, filling the clear plastic cases and display units from Italy. Also included is a looped video of the artist painting and talking.

The larger, power-packed "Five Galloping Horses" and "Mardi Gras Musicians" are enhanced by the height and space around them.

To better understand the artwork, begin with the video.

The delightful footage by Roger Bellinger is interlaced with music and the sound of Young's voice. Watching him paint is a choreography of man and canvas. In a tai chi-like manner he moves his hands before the canvas, empty of brush and paint. He scouts out and feels where the paint wants to go. Just to watch him shade color with a rag is worth the trip.

The intuitive nature of his work surfaces in the paintings exhibited here from the late 1980s and '90s. His notebooks, initial drawings and sketches reveal further clues about this artist who painted day and night.

David Belke, the curator, favors this quote from a book written by Young: "Always, there is a moment when I am standing in front of a blank canvas ready to apply the first color, wondering how it will begin and end. I paint swiftly with my emotions on the line, trying to capture the immediate moment in my work. Like all artists, there are agonies and disappointments when something doesn't quite work but when everything does go well, nothing is more exciting."

Says Belke: "This is John in a nutshell."

Apart from Young's popular horse paintings, there are paintings of children, landscapes, seascapes, abstracts and bronze plaques made from his drawings. Especially compelling is his "Nude with Red Bird," in daring primary colors.

The calligraphic lines that flow through the smaller abstract oils are sheer color poetry.

All of the paintings in the exhibit are for sale through the John Young Foundation, which was established to award scholarships through the University of Hawai'i, Chaminade University and Kapi'olani Community College. Contact David Belke at 263-9545 for exhibit sales information.

Visit the John Young Museum, the last project of his life, at the University of Hawai'i, or see the Web site: www.outreach.hawaii.edu/JYMuseum.