Fiona Grady speaks to Jillian Knipe about Jun'ichirō Tanazaki's 1933 essay 'In Praise of Shadows' on the Art Fictions Podcast.
It's astounding how much crossover there is between creative endeavours and how stories circle around the artist's studio practice. 'Art Fictions' is a fortnightly podcast hosted by artist and critical writer Jillian Knipe. For each episode, a guest artist discusses their work through the lens of a piece of fiction of their choosing. We explore the book's themes, context and characters as well as the author's background, which opens up and steers a rich conversation about the artist's work. The podcast bounces back and forth between artworks and text, often meandering around film, television, exhibitions and other inspiring artists.
Guest artist FIONA GRADY joins me to chat about her work via Jun'ichirō Tanazaki's 1933 essay 'In Praise of Shadows'. The text describes eastern aesthetics being driven by the west, resulting in the loss of Japanese tradition and the loss of the shadow.
Fiona Grady and I discuss her own praise of shadows, working with semi translucent colours on glass, wall murals and watercolours which celebrate subtlety, reflection and the elusiveness of the object of which, I'm quite certain, Tanazaki would approve.