Makiko Furuichi

Makiko Furuichi.

The wind, the wave, the star

Colour is everywhere in the work of Makiko Furuichi, an artist who particularly relishes outpourings of watercolour. Her motifs, cast casually onto the surface, appear almost hesitantly, then linger or drift without ever really taking hold. These enigmatic presences remain ambiguous. Her hazy universe navigates between two different waters: a deliberately appealing, shimmering palette on one hand, and shadowy shades that hint at disquiet on the other. This unsettling atmosphere, teetering between abstraction and repulsion, reflects the sentiment known in Japanese as Niyari. The climate – be it radiant, peaceful or stormy – can change without warning, through a sudden detail or a darkened tone.

The artist draws inspiration for her images and characters from her childhood memories in Kanazawa, from Japanese manga as well as Western painting and from her current life in France. Nature takes centre stage, teeming and vibrant, filled with strange creatures, malevolent demons and mischievous spirits straight out of Japanese folklore. Nothing is ever taken for granted or imposed in her free-flowing way of provoking and playing with images. Instead all is intimated, in subtle hints and strokes, through intuition and suggestion, in a fluid, watery medium as if borne along by the currents.

Makiko Furuichi’s floating, ghostlike world unfolds in small forms, on the pages of a book, a magazine or a theatre programme, but can also take on a large scale. She skilfully harnesses the essence of the most astonishing places: she has decorated a hotel room, created a stage curtain, engraved the bell of an abbey and painted a fresco in a cavernous wine cellar. This time she will be taking over the museum’s 17th-century attic space, where her hybrid, dreamlike world will take on a maritime note, in a nod to the tenth edition of the Vendée Globe.