4/22 Members' Opening for "Abundant Garden: Recent Works by Kaoru Mansour "

For our spring exhibition, we are delighted to present the work of Kaoru Mansour, a Japanese artist based in Los Angeles, whose work is a celebration of the abundance of nature and our bounteous spiritual, cultural and artistic connections to it. The opening reception for Abundant Garden will be held at the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden as part of "A Sunday Just For Members" on Sunday April 22, from 2pm to 4pm. It is a perfect way to spend Earth Day.

Many of Mansour’s recent mixed media works are built up of multiple layers of acrylic and collaged details on wooden panels and canvas, and employ artistic techniques and botanical subjects firmly rooted, as it were, in the soil of Southern California. In fact, many of the subjects she features are taken from her own garden in Tujunga. Yet, over the decades, as Mansour has experimented with motifs, composition and pigments, her works acquired an increasingly Japanese rhythm. Motifs balance harmoniously with areas of empty space, and the choice and treatment of her subjects – like a solitary crow or finch perched pensively on a branch – often evokes the lavish gold-leaf screen paintings of Japanese masters.  

In addition, Mansour’s collages are inspired by the Japanese concept of sonaemono – offerings made to the Buddha, the spirits of nature and family ancestors. Branches of loquat and lemon trees hang heavy with fruit, birds perch on the limbs, resting their wings and nibbling at berries, glistening chandeliers are suspended from tree limbs, and bowls heaped with fruit remind us of the bounty of spring and our intimate relationship with the natural world around us.

More of Kaoru Mansour’s work can be found at www.kaorumansour.com.