Kotani/Brown exhibit brings intangible to life in Sechrest

By Ryan, April 11, 2016

By Liz Reichart // A&E Editor

The amalgamation of two seemingly disparate ideas. It’s something we’re all familiar with, living on a campus that hardly looks like the town that surrounds it. But never before have both contrast and harmony been so effective as in “Kotani/Brown: Ambiguity, Uncertainty and Resignation,” the latest exhibit from the Sechrest Art Gallery located in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center.
Artists Setsuya Kotani and Bill Brown respective backgrounds diverge, their only similarity seemingly to be their love of turning intangible experiences into tangible art. Born in Japan, Kotani received his BFA from the University of Hawaii in 1961 and his MFA from Columbia University in 1970. The artist spent 25 years as a professor of painting and ceramics at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Kotani has exhibited internationally, most recently at the renowned Grand Palais in Paris. He is considered by many a master craftsman and living treasure in Japan. Known for his soft palette paintings that resonate with meditative stillness, his work depicts a floating universe. Kotani wishes the viewer to “learn to live with questions,” which is easier said than done in an era where constant critical thinking and questioning is often demanded of today’s students.
Bill Brown began his career as a studio sculptor in 1978 and continues sculpting today. “I was fortunate to grow up with a daily connection to the arts; exposed to, and participating in, the creative process with established and emerging artists,” Brown sad. “This foundation of artistic experience and knowledge began my life-long artistic exploration.”
Brown’s work is currently exhibiting in museums across the country. Known for his freestanding, pedestal and large scale structures that make an expressive use of texture through colored stone. In terms of his work, Brown too has dedicated his life to rendering the indefinable concrete. “Bill Brown’s art seeks to translate inspiration into tangible expression by allowing the realities of his heart and soul to forge a potent meeting between matter and spirit. Thus his art leads us to not only ‘understand about’ but to potentially be transformed,” said Jane Seaton, Ph.D., a famed South Dakotan watercolor artist who also exhibits nationwide.
How did these two artists unite in one exhibit? The process began with the meeting of HPU’s Exhibition Committee. Kotani was a familiar name in the North Carolina art community; Bill Brown was recommended by one of the members and was “deemed to have abstract sculpture that would beautifully complement Kotani’s paintings”, according to Maxine Campbell, director and curator of the Sechrest Art Gallery. As to the titling of the exhibit, Campbell claimed the viewer will be able to see all three traits listed. “Ambiguity and uncertainty are obvious when you first step foot in the gallery,” Cambell said. “Minimal and abstract art tends to lend itself to this feeling. When you spend time with the work you begin to understand the resignation in it all and feel at peace or intolerable of the fact that there aren’t any cryptic answers in the work. At the same time, the work is a very good mental motivator and stimulator of thoughtful conversation.” The juxtaposition being set before the viewer is quickly made evident when a visual comparison is made: Brown’s sharp, rusted structures that seem uncontained versus Kotani’s light, frothy squares, neatly confined. Campbell asserts that although there’s juxtaposition to be found in Brown’s clean lines and Kotani’s minimalist works, there still remain strong similarities that make their work on exhibit cohesive. “Both artists are much restrained in their use of color,” Cambell said. “Texture is important to both. Kotani experiments with scale. We have the huge scroll-like works along with his diminutive icons grouped together. There is a striking difference in the artwork. Kotani’s paintings and the delicate nature of the medium contrast very intensely with Brown’s steel work. The process in creating these works is entirely different, but for the state of mind that the artists are in. They are both making abstract expressions of intangible experiences.” The result: a truly thoughtful exhibit that leaves visitors exploring that which is elusive in their realities.
Kotani will be speaking about his work and the philosophy surrounding it at the Sechrest Art Gallery on April 12 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. “Kotani / Brown” is available for viewing at the Sechrest Art Gallery until April 21, Monday through Thursday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.