The Foundation of Light

At first glance, this appears to be simply an overhead view of a pile of ginkgo leaves in late autumn. Look closely to discover a whole host of other autumnal creatures, who have made a temporary home here. Kanbe Tomoyuki has said that this depiction of nature and living creatures moving among the leaves with their small life dramas refers to the hardships of modern life. One of a series of paintings featuring similar seasonal scenes, the naturalistic appearance of Kanbe’s paintings derives from a unique collage technique: he applies gold paint, gold leaf, and other mineral and metallic pigments on various kinds of paper and layers them. He paints the leaves on the bottom of the pile on hemp paper, and the middle and top layers on ultra-thin Japanese paper called tengujōshi. Thus the leaves actually overlap one another, just as they do in nature.