Water colour by Haruna Sato
It was in the 1920s, when nobody had time to reflect, that I saw a still-life painting with a flower that was perfectly exquisite, but so small you really could not appreciate it.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Sato’s painting passion is the Japanese and more recently the English landscape (especially parks and the flowers within them) that she has encountered locally near Shukugawa and when staying with family in the United Kingdom. Not surprisingly, Sato is not alone in painting the landscapes of Britain for it there is a long and formidable tradition of artists who have passionately engaged it, ranging from John Constable, William Turner to more recent efforts by painters of like David Hockney.
Nor is Sato alone in painting flowers for the French Painter Claude Monet used them as motifs to study colour relationships, The Golden Age of Dutch painting is littered with the most exquisite images of painted flowers and as one sits here amongst the other patrons within this cafe in an old Showa period building on waterfront Kobe, partially surrounded by these flora water colours by Sato's which resonate her painterly observations. and what is so likeable about the Sato's painterly efforts is her passion to try and capture the flowers in all their prismatic glory.
Sato's water colour painting praxis also consists of using photographic/computer generated imagery to partially arrange the structure of the motif and these are so well thought out before she attempts to paint between the permanent presence of a photo from the now and using memory through delay, and this appears to be logical thing to do, due to the fragility of the petals with their tendency to die quickly once picked and the needs of the artist to paint them.
And as the afternoon on this slightly warm spring day drifts on within this charming cafe, it becomes clear whatever the motif, Sato has a bright future as a painter, so if you’re in Kobe and in need of a relaxation, something to eat and drink and interesting paintings to look at then come to Cofuque Cafe and see this small but delicate show.
Link to Cafe & Map
