Rehs Contemporary now representing Mitsuru Watanabe
(Artdaily.org)

This Fall, New York art gallery Rehs Contemporary will present new work by Japanese artist Mitsuru Watanabe. On public view for the first time in the United States, Watanabe’s compositions are both a tribute to and modernization of 16th Century Renaissance masterworks, while also blending those Western inspirations with his Eastern culture. Watanabe’s subjects routinely explore the landscapes that inspired Henri Rousseau, sometimes cross paths with creatures from Hieronymus Bosch’s imagination, and occasionally captivate mythological beings as if they were Venus themselves. Stylistically, Watanabe’s realistic approach boarders on Surrealism, particularly in the depiction of his subjects – oftentimes his daughters Naoko and Yukiko. The stoic expression they exude gives an intriguing sense of indifference to their grandiose surroundings, and yet while so out of place, they appear