Geisha Series PARK ART YYC x BLOWFISH SUSHI LOUNGE

My series of Geisha’s is currently up in Blowfish Sushi Lounge  (625 11th Avenue SW) in Calgary until March of 2015.  There are a number of smaller prints available of the larger works.

This series of work, started in 2011 and has continued on into the present. The new portraits invite the viewer to see the delicate delicate side of Japanese culture. The tones present in the pieces within the show are, for the most part, softly monochromatic, with bright jolts of black or colour to keep the eye engaged. Compared to the high symbolism and rich colours of her last show, Rouge Arabian Dancers, the Geisha Series is beautiful, but more understated and even discreet. The figures are compelling, the ideas meaningful, but serene.

Here is the forward of my work by writer and friend Jaimie Dreidger:
First of all, why focus on anatomical drawings? In Ms. Olson-Mottahed’s own words, it was where she first developed her skill as a “physical” artist: putting pencil, charcoal, or brush to paper: “During my B.F.A. at the University of Calgary, my initial concentration of courses during my first two years was drawing, and specifically anatomical drawing. Going back to my honed fundamentals, like charcoal, graphite and chalk with this series feels very organic and natural to me.” People specializing in many professions are required to do anatomical drawings to gain a deep and intimate meaning of the human body. Anatomy is the cornerstone of most medical studies, and people in ancient times found the body so mysterious that anatomy was almost like an exploration. Taken quite literally, anatomy means to get to know a person beneath their skin.

It is no wonder that the study of art requires the same familiarity with the human body, for artistic expression requires that kind of understanding. Ms. Olson-Mottahed’s return to the basic process of creation has made the forms of the subjects the primary focus. The expressions of the women, the curves of their bodies: the subtle lines that compose these works speak volumes.
Secondly, why the use of Japanese women as subjects? Well, Katrina admits freely that it is a kind of love letter to Japan, a country that she feels very interested in and connected to. Having spent time in the Middle East, she found the belly dancers very compelling. Thinking about Japan, she was drawn to the figure of the Geisha: “I have a deep appreciation for the politeness and formality of culture in Japan. Geishas are an art form in Japan with their very traditional costume, dance and musical entertaining. The word Geisha literally means “artist” and late in the eighteenth century this could have described an array of Japanese women artists.There is something to be said about a culture that celebrates the woman artist. Women train their whole lives from a very young age well until their seventies to be a Geisha. That is such a beautiful thing. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be, as belly dancers are in Arab culture, which I did my last show on, Rouge Arabian Dancers. I am motivated by the movement of the female form, the anatomy, the figure, and the innate seduction the female entertainers possess.”

The Geisha Series is another deeply felt investigation of a foreign culture and a role played by women within that culture. Rather than just use travel as recreation, Ms. Olson-Mottahed has brought her artist’s eye and natural curiosity together to examine a facade–again, a beautiful and culturally relevant one, but a facade all the same–that she wishes to know more intimately and pass that knowledge on to us. These delicate and beautiful depictions of Geishas and the “real”, female bodies communicate to us that they have always been one in the same, leaving nothing lost in the translation.