Asako Iwasawa at Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Asako Iwasawa is a contemporary Japanese painter from Akabane, Tokyo, and winner of the 2018 Ronin|Globus Artist-in-Residence program. With a background in textile design, Iwasawa indulged her love for nature while spending 10 years living as a farmer in the countryside. Though she returned to the city, she brought the vivid world of insects, plants, and natural beauty back with her.

Her work embodies kacho fugetsu, a Japanese tradition of profound respect for flora and fauna through the different seasons. Composed of the kanji for “flower,” “bird,” “wind,” and “moon,” kacho fugetsu evokes both the diverse phenomena of the natural world and a metaphorical significance beyond the physical realm.

In her lush paintings, Iwasawa treads the boundary between spirit and landscape and challenges her viewers’ sense of place. In her words, “I aspire to portray the mysterious shapes and colors of nature, what we see and don’t see.”

During her residency, Iwasawa will use Brooklyn Botanic Garden as inspiration and as a plein air studio. She is also the featured artist in Ronin Gallery’s summer exhibition, Contemporary Talents of Japan: Kacho Fugetsu.

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