Into the Waters with Senju and Bingyi: Two Contemporary Paintings

Water is more than subject or inspiration for contemporary artists Hiroshi Senju and Bingyi—it’s a method, a material, and a philosophy. Be among the first to see their paintings, which offer two distinct, hypnotic visualizations of water.

Senju and Bingyi reimagine their cultures’ rich artistic traditions with their own bold experiments. Senju reconfigures traditional Japanese painting with contemporary techniques and abstracts real waterfalls into idealized images. Often painting outdoors, Bingyi intuitively channels raw nature but also pulls on historical Chinese ink painting and philosophy. This exhibition puts the artists’ two paintings in context with their unique methods, influences, and ethos.

Across three hanging scrolls, Bingyi’s painting bears layers of splashed ink, the sea breeze’s effects, and careful brushwork that conjures a whorl of water and petals. Senju’s folding screens recall the dripping ceramic glazes and waterfall prints in our museum’s collections. By evoking water’s essence, these artists call us to ask: How is nature both permanent and vulnerable? How does water nurture and also destroy? What beauty and mystery can we find in the very resources we rely on? And what happens when we abandon the line between artist and environment?

Step into the gallery and feel the power and beauty of water.