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WaterscapeWater is the inspiration for many artists; visual and performance. Noriko Saito's current exhibition, Waterscape is her personal tribute to the beautiful musical compositions of Toru Takemitsu.
The artist continues, "The theme of the earlier exhibition was also water. I had the image in my mind of ocean currents connected with the migration of the people who had journeyed to Toronto in ocean voyages. The ideas I had were; water, current and the surrounding universe. I listened to Toru Takemitsu's music and read about him at the Japan Foundation's extensive library. His compositions were about water and current in similar ways. I knew him only through his music. I knew in the future I would start a series of water paintings that were connected to his music. My starting point was nine years ago for Waterscape." "Before I moved to Toronto I lived in Berlin and it was there, over a decade ago, that I first heard Toru Takemitsu's music while attending one of his concerts." Toru TakemitsuToru Takemitsu is considered to be the most renowned Japanese composer of the late 20th Century. He was awarded the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize in 1996, just before his death. Noriko Saito's Homage to Toru Takemitsu
Many of the works forming Waterscape draw inspiration from Toru Takemitsu. "Toward the Sea is a kind of triptych. The music is from three pieces, Night, Moby Dick and Cape Cod. Actually the music Night premiered in Toronto. Greenpeace asked Toru Takemitsu to compose the piece," says Noriko.
Norito pointed out that, "Bryce is directly connected with Toronto. It is the name of Robin Engleman's son." Robin Engleman is a member of Nexus, a percussion ensemble, he had a lecture at the Japan Foundation about Toru Takemitsu as part of this exhibit. "They were close both personally and professionally." Takemitsu composed one of Nexus's signature pieces 'From me flows what you call Time.' "Toru Takemitsu met Bryce when he was young, perhaps 7-years old, and he decided to compose music and dedicated it to Bryce."
"Rain Tree took this title from a Kenzaburo Oe novel." The author was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize for literature. Noriko said, "a long time ago when I was in Germany I read this book and it impressed me. Toru Takemitsu composed Rain Tree. It's another connection between his music and my work. The tree grows in the southern USA. When it rains the small leaves hold the water and after the rain stops the leaves release the water so it looks like it's raining. It's a beautiful piece, very sensitive, like hearing a rain drop." "Rain Tree, Sketch and Sketch II were both written for the piano. They appear similar but if you listen carefully they are different. For me it is spiritual they have very clear sounds that I wanted to capture in my painting."
A Way A Lone
In a separate room at the Japan Foundation is a series of four paintings. Visitors have the opportunity to listen to Toru Takemitsu's musical version of A Way A Lone while viewing Noriko Saito's visual homage. As the artist explains, "A Way A Lone, was painted directly from Toru Takemitsu's music. The title of his music, A Way A Lone was taken from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake. It is the image that all rivers in Dublin flow towards the sea. For Joyce the sea was masculine, a father figure, and Toru Takemitsu composed the music through the image of James Joyce and when I listened to the music a landscape or river in the night is the image that I painted. These pieces strongly connected with the music. Some others may be with my own visions or views of waters but not these pieces. I listened to A Way A Lone, the version for the string quartet. Usually I don't listen to music while I paint and in this case I listened to the music several times and then I began to paint without any distractions. "Whenever I paint I need to given 100 % concentration so I listened to the music ahead of time. I thought it was important for the guests to know what I heard when I painted these works so I planned to use one room in this exhibition solely for this series so the people could listen to music at the same time. The Japan Foundation was very supportive of my ideas. I have two favorite versions of A Way a Lone. One is a female quartet and the other is a Tokyo String Quartet whose members included Peter Oundjian, currently the conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I listened to both of these versions to draw inspiration for my paintings. People have the opportunity to listen to both versions while looking at my paintings. I find his music can sound quite different depending on who plays his pieces. I wanted people to know more about his music or rediscover his music. This year is the 10th anniversary of his death. He died young; he was only 65. Toru Takemitsu had a close connection with Toronto: several of his compositions premiered here." Color of Water
Noriko has been an artist virtually all of her life. "I studied painting as a small child of about 4 or 5. I continued every weekend and every Sunday I had paintings lessons. At some point it became very academic. Everyone thought I would study art. It was very academic, there wasn't anything abstract. When I was young I loved Kandinsky and Klee. Now I like Vermeer and Rembrandt. It is color and light that inspire me." Perhaps, fittingly, water-based techniques dominate her style. "I mainly use water-based techniques like acrylic, water based color, and Sumi-E ink which is Japanese black ink. There are some smaller watercolor works on paper. Most of them are my own image of water, some are connected with Toru Takemitsu's music. Many are my own ideas of river, sea and water. I titled them Waterscape because Toru Takemitsu used that for his Water Music series. Noriko has another exhibit in Germany, a group show. 18 Positions
Noriko spent a decade in Germany working as an artist before her 2000 move to Toronto. From 1994 to 1996 she was the Artist-in-Residence of the Art Foundation PRO ARTE in Ulm, Germany. "I was an artist in residence in Ulm, a city in Southern Germany between Stuttgart and Munich. The current exhibition consists of 18 artists, all of whom used to be the artist in residence with an art foundation, most of those included still reside in Germany. The exhibition is held at a Baroque library and each summer they host an exhibition. I sent a series of paintings while some other artists did installation or video works. For that exhibition my series was of abstract views of plants. I'm more interested in seeds or a single petal. The colors are much more earthy, such as reds, oranges, and ochres, not at all like Waterscape." Those in Toronto should not miss the delightful Noriko Saito artistic homage to Toru Takemitsu. Noriko Saito Exhibitions:
Waterscape
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