Hiroe Saeki

Hiroe Saeki (b. 1978 Osaka, Japan) Saeki’s work inhabits a liminal zone on the edges of the perceivable. Her monochromatic works explore the mystery, wonder and beauty found in nature. Her delicate drawings have a weightless quality, the sparse compositions evoking traditional aesthetics. The void is inherent in Saeki’s work, allowing the microscopic and macroscopic viewpoints to co-exist. Her chosen tool is the pencil: ephemeral because it can be erased, fluid because it is undefined, emancipating because there is no outline to follow. Saeki uses a technique that creates a puddle of water on the screen, the dripping Japanese ink creates shapes that she then uses to draw her figurative motifs which deploy intricate details to reflect on time and space.

Saeki’s practice evokes associations with biological or mineral forms, such as geological sediments. Exquisite, minuscule lines take us to the nano level of the cellular structure of organisms. Questions of life and death are at the genesis of her incredibly powerful works. The use of negative space and the emergence of motifs in a void containing the past, present and future which is juxtaposed with the use of flowers as a symbol of life. Reinforcing her conviction that the afterlife is part of our present.