Christian Hidaka's New Paintings Merge Modernity with Primitivism

Christian Hidaka's exhibition 'Souvenir' at Galerie Michel Rein (December 1, 2012 – January 12, 2013) marks a shift in his work, incorporating modern art history. The artist, born in 1977 in Noda, Japan, and based in London, changed his name from Christian Ward to Hidaka after a trip to northern Japan. His earlier biomorphic cave paintings, inspired by Disney's early animations and Picasso, have evolved into layered compositions influenced by Renaissance light from trips to Italy and Morocco. New works like 'Canopy' (2012) reference Matisse, Juan Gris, and Sophie Tauber-Arp, while exploring oblique perspective found in Japanese prints and video games. Hidaka's recent reading of David Lewis-Williams' 'The Mind in the Cave' led him to primitive art and André Breton's modernism. Paintings such as 'Factory Mountains' (2012) reflect a trip to China, blending biomorphic forms with industrial landscapes. The exhibition includes works like 'Resort', a cubist Mediterranean village, and 'Clown d'Oro', a small clown figure. Hidaka cites influences from performance art at London's Form/Content gallery and Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. His recent drawings use prehistoric pigments and reference Nazca geoglyphs and crop circles. Upcoming solo shows include CAC Synagogue de Delme in 2013.