Amelia Johnson Contemporary is extremely pleased to present the first solo exhibition of young Japanese artist, Sakae Ozawa in what will be her first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Ozawa’s paintings are far removed from reality and everyday life, and unfold in fantastical and seemingly magical places. Sakae says that she rarely produces work based on fairy tales or folklore but even so, there is a sensibility about her paintings that forms associations in the mind with well known tales by authors such as the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. Children are depicted in innocent childhood pursuits such as fishing or playing in the snow, forests are recreated as magical landscapes, animals such as bears, stags or owls assume human-like composure, splashes of colour in the inky night skies shimmer like fireworks, fireflies or stars. All these elements come together to create works that are playful, joyous and naively enchanting. It is only through closer inspection, however, that we realize that, like those fairy tales, there is a darker side to the enchantment, a sense of unease that pervades the beauty and a feeling that all is not all right in the forest. Of equal importance to her narrative, the light touch of the artist's brush and her use of colour play a major role in the way her work is interpreted. Ozawa often uses an unshaded black as the background colour of her works. This serves as a perfect foil to the adjoining white and pale colours which appear brighter and more radiant. The jewel-like colours that flash and glitter in small scatterings across the landscapes serve to intensify the sense of fantasy in these unreal landscapes. And it is against these dramatic and bold backdrops that her characters play out their parts. Through her use of colour and magical realism Ozawa Sakae has created works that are both intriguing and captivating. Her works intoxicate the viewer and linger in the mind long after.

Sakae Ozawa was born in 1980 in Shiga, Japan. In 2003 she graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design with a BA honors degree. She furthered her studies in Austria and graduated at the top of her class from the Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Wien (the University of Applied Arts Vienna). Since her graduation in 2003 Ozawa has exhibited extensively in Kyoto and Tokyo. Her work has been exhibited at SHContemporary, Shanghai as Best of Discovery 2008: Japan and, most recently, at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan in 2010. Ozawa Sakae currently lives and works in Kyoto.