United States
£ GBP
Take a fresh look at the world through the lens of a self-confessed nature-obsessed artist. Asuka Hishiki possesses not only a sense of profound awe and wonder at the intricacies of the natural world, but also the talent to communicate it through her paintings. Recalling the Wunderkammer (literally, 'wonder rooms') of 16th and 17th-century European collectors, Asuka Hishiki's Botaniphoria: A Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities encompasses subjects as diverse as rotting vegetables, endangered species, mundane weeds and backyard insects – all treasures to her and transformed into objects of intense and fragile beauty through her skill with watercolour. Her work is held in prestigious collections such as The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, California, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pennsylvania.
One of the first people to appreciate her work said about it, 'your work is not to hang upon a wall in a bright living room, but to put in a drawer in the study. Then, alone in the middle of the night, to take out and ponder upon.' In the best traditions of Wunderkammer, this book is an artfully arranged collection intended to be pondered upon. From the interactions of the objects within the paintings, to the quirky choice of subjects and the realism with which they are portrayed, they will bear revisiting again and again. As Asuka admits, painting is her language. She is an extremely adept communicator in it.
Having grown up with nature books and frequent visits to the parks and gardens in her hometown, Kyoto, Japan, Asuka Hishiki has always been fascinated by nature, drawn to portray the plants and wildlife surrounding her. After completing her Master's degree at Kyoto City University of Arts, she spent 10 years in New York City delving more into her artistic style. Her work spans drawings of rare, endangered species to more familiar vegetables found in the home, vividly painted in astonishing detail. For the past decade, it has addressed environmental issues and the survival of the natural world, including large-scale installations using recycled paper on the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies.
"I want to say "I can't believe these are drawings", but that's not right, because it's not that they look like photographs [...] they are something else, something hyper-, something almost beyond seeing. Look at the tormented kohlrabi on page 29 and tell me you don't want to buy this book."
– Robin Sloan, author of the novels Sourdough and Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.
