Hino Gallery is pleased to present “Private Botanical Dictionary” by Yoko Matsumoto from Saturday, May 17th, 2025.

Yoko Matsumoto has been painting for 65 years since graduating from the Oil Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1960. In this exhibition, works from two different series will be presented together: Matsumoto's latest oil paintings in blue (to be presented for the first time in Japan), and two oil paintings from the elusive Black Series painted during the late 1990s/early 2000s.

The evolution of Matsumoto's work can be tracked by the selection of colour she has explored during each period, starting with the pink acrylic paintings she worked on for over 30 years, from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, followed by the green oil paintings from 2005, and then, in 2023, she gradually and unintentionally shifted to blue. From time to time, she also created compositions in grey, black and white, some of which will be on view for the first time in many years in this exhibition. When looking back on these series and the extent of her creative activities, the diversity and range of colour exploration becomes clear.

On completing her first oil painting in blue, the artist made the following comment:

As was the case at my solo exhibition at Hino Gallery Tokyo in May of this year (2023), a touch of blue has often been recognised in my painting these days. It is not a deep blue like Ultramarine Deep: it is a bright and gorgeous Cobalt Blue Pale. It is, in other words, a Mediterranean blue.

Whether it is in the pink acrylic or green oil paintings, blue is a colour that should never be overlooked in my work. In my long career as a painter, I have learned that this colour has the unfathomable power to transform the space of painting: it can be both light or stately even.

In my recent work, Cobalt Blue appears more prominently on canvases of pink, green, and white. It is a colour that transcends all boundaries and becomes apparent. Manipulated by the magical force of this colour, I naturally began my new work with blue as a main colour.

Have I discovered a clear and beautiful Cobalt Blue? The answer to my own question is expanding before my eyes.

The resulting initial group of blue oil paintings were shown at Matsumoto's first solo exhibition in the UK at White Cube Mason's Yard in London last year. The exhibition received a far greater response than anticipated, and the momentum led to her solo exhibition in New York shortly after.

After such an exhilarating year, Matsumoto decided to present blue paintings here in Japan as well, and has recently completed five new works, including large-scale compositions. Each work has its own unique expression and, referring the artist's words, each has ‘the unfathomable power to transform the space of painting: it can be both light or stately even.’ The paintings are undoubtedly executed in Matsumoto’s signature style, but, at the same time, we can perceive the artist's determination to break into another new chapter through her experimentation.

The trails of oil pastel marks run freely across the surface of the canvas and appear as a creative pleasure: the artists hand lovingly caressing the surface, and as one follows these trails we are immediately drawn into the rich layers of charcoal and oil, which, combined with the effect of the colour blue, take your gaze even further into the depths of the painting. The sensations the artist must have experienced and the eternal painterly space evoke a sense that there might be something more beyond this: an endless realm of painting perhaps, continuously spreading out. Matsumoto's own work is the catalyst for her consistent urge to paint something invisible and the inaccessible, something that drives the artist back to the blank canvas again and again.

In addition to these new works, two compositions from the Black series painted in the early 2000s, will be exhibited. Although it is called ‘black,’ Matsumoto did not use a manufactured black straight from the tube, but created her own (dark colour), by mixing shaved charcoal with colours such as Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Deep. The space drifts richly without stagnation and, like Matsumoto's other works, actively engages the viewer's eye. By viewing her new blue works and older black oil paintings from different periods at the same time, one can see how the artist has made colour her own and how she has sought to create a vast and boundless realm of painting within the limited rectangular canvas.

This is Matsumoto’s first solo exhibition at Hino Gallery in two years. The artist will become 89 years old during the exhibition, but her work speaks of an attitude that knows no bounds. We hope you will enjoy Yoko Matsumoto's paintings, apparently manifested by a magical force.