Evaluation

Year:

2024
Size:
Material/Technique:

After receiving her diagnosis at the age twenty, Haruka Asano struggled to manage her schizophrenia as she went back and forth between hospital and home. At the age of twenty-nine, she began to focus on painting. Along the way, she painted the award-winning “Hyoka” (meaning “evaluation” in Japanese), which she said was born from her genuine wish to be recognized. Before working on the piece, Asano was “ashamed” of her desire; however, she learned that she was free to express herself after someone told her that “Longing for acknowledgment is also a reflection of your true consciousness.” Created on the theme of coral reefs that release eggs on the night of the full moon, the artwork is presented on deconstructed komebukuro (traditional Japanese rice packaging made from kraft paper), with intricately rendered motifs including a star-filled sky, outer space, and the moon. Inspired by her parents, whose influence is clearly prominent in Asano’s art, the drawing also represents a vision she had in her mother’s womb, and the image of her father, who is a coral researcher.

Christian Berst

If no concentric structure on paper, as powerful as it may be, could even approach the radiating energy of the sun, this artwork may very well have the same kind of invigorating effect. Only this artwork, with its purplish colors, also bears a vast array of what seems to be burgeoning flowers. What is then achieved is the pairing of a fundamental cause of vegetal growth, solar power, with one of its most dashing consequences, the pure blossoming of beauty. It thus comes as no surprise that Haruka Asano’s geometrical expansion of bulbs throughout her horizontally oriented rice bag immediately conquered the hearts of the jury.

Katsuhiko Hibino

Draw, draw and only draw.
This immersion is so deep that even the artist herself might find it hard to break away from it. I also find the Japanese title “Hyoka” quite intriguing. This work exists because of the relationship between the artist and those who support her. “Hyoka” means to evaluate / recognize; this work has literally been recognized.

Emina Morioka

Haruka Asano

Nationality:

Japan