Zone Eclipse by INSTINC AIR Chihro Kabata & Yuuri Kabata (Japan)

25-26 Jan 2014

By Fann ZJ

Swirls and twirls. Two bodies, several bodies, waves, ants, dots, spots… It was a series of possibilities at Instinc as the Kabata Sisters created many portals for viewers to enter their world.

Reminiscent of psychometric ink blot tests, an array of mediums ranging from paper, to plates were brought alive with each stroke. Chihro Kabata’s tool, the pen, creates a landscape of waves, channelling their energy across the paper space. An abstraction which presents no conclusion, from afar, the pen strokes on the photo paper come across like a single stroke of a brush. Firm, decisive and precise. Look deeper beyond the hypnotic graze and they are delicate, thoughtful and dreamy.

Yuuri Kabata’s paintings compared to her sister’s on the other hand are grounded and solid. Strong in form and contrast, their formation is dictated by a set of rules. Methods based, the medium of oil on a variety of surfaces creates a dialogue between the surface, the paint and the space it creates.

These possibilities extend themselves into the physical space through wax-like droplets displayed in a glass cabinet. Appearing as random drips and drops on different glass shelves, they create a hypnotic layered effect. It becomes the object in its own space.

Staring into these possibilities, is like admiring the moment of twilight. Fleeting and mesmerising. For the Kabata Sisters, these portals bring you into a zone, a zone that lingers, diving into one’s conscious and memory, bringing you into a zone of recollection, all so familiar. Yet if you pause for too long, that moment of familiarity passes and is gone.