Kenji Yoshida: Infinite Light

October Gallery will present an exhibition of works by the late Kenji Yoshida (1924 - 2009).

Infinite Light will focus primarily on Yoshida’s later paintings of coloured forms surrounded by silver and gold leaf, Yoshida invites the viewer to consider the fundamental forces of life, and meditate upon that essential unity that binds us all together and dwells in the heart of humanity. For Yoshida, Light represented the ineffable quality of Life that showered down on earth from the infinite depths of space. It was our duty, he believed, to nurture that life-giving force, by reflecting it endlessly amongst ourselves, so that it travelled onwards forever.

Born in 1924, in Ikeda City (part of present-day Osaka), Yoshida first studied art under Kiyoshi Hayashi Sensei before his path of artistic development was unavoidably interrupted by war. Selected for training as a kamikaze pilot, Yoshida was extremely lucky to survive his teens - though the majority of his friends were not so fortunate. It was under the weight of many such memories, and in a post-war climate of crushing defeat, that Yoshida returned to his art, devoting himself to a sustained exploration of those life-affirming forces that he had seen so tragically extinguished around him. From that point onwards the majority of Yoshida’s work has carried the single, most telling of all titles, Sei-Mei - La Vie - Life. Yet, however much agency Yoshida’s poignant personal experiences might lend to his message of Peace, October Gallery’s exhibition seeks to re-examine his work in an art historical context, considering it, in its own right, as the work of a supreme master.