Ken Matsubara, Green Dragon 青龍（額・炉縁), 2023, pigment on paper, H6.6 × W42.5 × D42.5 cm

Cosmic Sound: Master Paintings by Ken Matsubara
March 14 – April 4, 2024
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-23, 11am-6pm (otherwise by appointment)
Opening Reception & Music Performance: Thursday, March 14th, 5-8pm (RSVP required)
32 East 67th Street,  3rd Floor

On the occasion of Asia Week New York, Ippodo Gallery is proud to present Cosmic Sound: Master Paintings by Ken Matsubara, a culmination of the artist’s concepts featuring 20 of the beloved painter’s unique artworks. Matsubara will showcase his series spanning his long and illustrious career, including three works depicting the auspicious and fearsome dragon zodiac, the spectacular 12-panel Kūkai’s View, and versions of Scenery and the Moon Sound.

Ken Matsubara, Kukai’s View; Sun and Moon, Sun and Venus 旭日昃星, 2017, H71 x W442 in. (H180 x W1125 cm), (Set of 3 panels)

Ken Matsubara (b. 1948) came to the medium of painting as a young man living amongst monks at a Buddhist temple in north-central Japan. Now residing in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, a natural landscape of rivers and waterfalls, Matsubara sojourned across the Japanese archipelago, finding inspiration through researching local imaginations of the dragon—sometimes a sky god or spirit of the water. The transcendental themes of his youth continue to permeate his works. One universal symbol is the circle, symbolizing the resonant sound of a ringing prayer bowl. The repetitive shape muddies the separation between sun or moon, sky or sea, or foreground from background: all is one and one is all.

There will also be a special otsuzumi drum performance during the opening reception by Shonosuke Okura. The acclaimed Nō musician is the 15th generation to receive the otsuzumi tradition.

To learn more and RSVP, click here.