Viz City was pleased to interview painter SatokoMotouji on Thursday. April 5, 2018 for a broadcast date of Wed. April 18, 2018. The show is at the White Lotus Gallery and is called "Peer Gynt: Paintings by SatokoMotouji." The exhibition dates are March 28 – May 12, 2018.
You’re listening to Viz City, KLCC’s Arts Review program. Hundreds of Eugenians were amazed at the recent multimedia Eugene Ballet performance of "Peer Gynt."
Dreamlike watercolor images floated in the background drawing gasps from the crowd. The performance is over, but the opportunity to see the original watercolors by Satoko Matouji at the White Lotus Gallery is still available until May 12.
Satoko, "This project is very interesting to me because Tony Pimble, who is the artistic director of the Eugene Ballet, approached me to see if I would be interesting in creating image for her Peer Gynt Eugene ballet performance…"
The quiet elegance of this show in the White Lotus seems very different from the Hult Center performance hall. Satoko explains: "There are two different things going on here. All the larger paintings, which are 22 by 30, and they were photographed first, and then they will be projected on the stage."
Satoko further explains that when these watercolors on the gallery wall were projected during the ballet, they were 45 feet by 35 feet. It was a multimedia production of painting, video, lighting, and, of course, dance. She points out and describes a series of abstracted images: "So this is a tent scene in the desert and it is a scene of seduction by Anita, who is a woman in the desert and so she seduces Peer Gynt into the tent and at the end he will be left alone. "
Satoko uses lush color and emotionally intense abstraction to express the variable moods of the ballet, which works very well as a gallery show.
Satoko’s show runs through May 12. The White Lotus Gallery is downtown at 767 Willamette.
Viz City is co-produced by Terry Way and Sandy Brown Jensen.
