B ursting forth in a chromatic eruption of compositional dynamism across its richly textured surface, Sleepy Woman on Blue Stripe by Kei Imazu is a vibrant example of the artist’s delicately layered work. Building layers of juxtaposing forms and expressive strokes of oil colour, the present work offers its viewer an archaeological survey of the creative strata that accumulated to form Imazu’s extraordinary visual aesthetic. Against bold stripes of electric blue emerges Imazu’s signature oscillation between abstraction and figuration; the open mouth of a cat, fangs glistening; a pink soap with the indentation of human teeth; a solitary figure’s back which floats beneath a blue bone, almost comic in its childlike rendering. Rich in classical references, the artist took inspiration from the Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni in this composition, with a particularly evocative Memento mori, a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’, depicting a reclining female nude clutching a scull forming the architectural framework of the present work. Sensual, fleshy limbs emerge only to disappear into the embedded debris of visual references. The human body is here digitally warped, becoming recognisable only from the signature poses of their limbs. Towards the bottom left edge of the composition, the artist has superimposed two Celtic Heads, seen in the present work as if through the glass of a museum cabinet. Like the stripes of a bed sheet half revealing the lying figure beneath, the swatches of blue paint, expressive in their grandiosity, reveal and conceal the collage of references beneath. The voluminous, cascading folds of the blanket are rendered flat by Imazu’s reappropriation of Roy Lichtenstein’s infamous pop aesthetics. By employing stripes, both Lichtenstein and Imazu are able to add a sense of depth and solidity, whilst supplying two-dimensional colour and texture.

Digitally creating compositions before applying them onto the canvas, Imazu creates innovative, highly irreverent pieces. Incorporating otherwise disparate elements, from historical art imagery to content on modern-day social media platforms, works by the artist have been exhibited in prominent institutions such as Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota, United States and Museum Haus Kasuya, Kanagawa, Japan. Her visually dynamic works have garnered the artist much commercial success, with Replica Shoes ’s Hong Kong selling another wonderfully layered work, Black Eyes (2016) last year for HK$1.8 million, almost 12 t.mes s its pre-sale low estimate. Indeed, Imazu has received worldwide recognition, notably with her nomination in 2020 as a finalist, alongside the winner Toyin Ojih Odutola, for the prestigious Prix Jean Francois Prat in France.

《藍色條紋上昏昏欲睡的女人》紋理質感豐富，色彩繽紛生動，畫面的活力澎湃，是今津景巧妙層疊作品的示範。在本作中，今津將油彩和壓克力彩畫成的形狀和筆觸並置，並透過層層疊加，令觀眾得以一睹形成其非凡視覺美學的創意圖層。在電光藍色的線條中，今津一如以往，遊走於抽象和具象之間：貓兒咧開的嘴；閃閃發光的尖牙；帶有人類牙印的粉紅肥皂；充滿童趣、儼如漫畫一般的藍色骨頭；以及漂浮其下的孤獨背影，一一巧妙交織在構圖之中，視覺效果極為豐富，令人浮想翩翩。今津又自意大利巴洛克畫家圭多·雷尼（Guido Reni）汲取靈感，為作品注入豐富的古典元素，刻畫出一個斜倚的裸女手執骷髏頭骨，構成作品的結構框架，帶有教人深思的「Memento mori」（拉丁語片語，指「勿忘你終有一死」）意味。誘惑豐腴的四肢在畫面出現，卻又隱於拼貼而成的視覺元素；同時，胴體經過數碼扭曲，觀眾只能透過姿勢認出原作。在作品的左下邊緣，藝術家疊加了兩個凱爾特頭像；觀眾彷如置身博物館展櫃前，隔著玻璃一探頭像的奧祕。而藍色顏料就似床單的條紋，半掩其下的人像，令下層的拼貼元素若隱若現。今津重新演繹羅伊·李奇登斯坦（Roy Lichtenstein）所擅長的流行美學，將毯子的褶皺變得平坦，成功在呈現平面顏色及紋理的同時，增加作品的深度和固態結構。

今津創作布本作品時先以數碼方式繪圖，成果新穎且有別傳統。她的作品融合了歷史上的藝術形象以至現今社交媒體平台上的內容等不同元素，曾在美國明尼阿波利斯美術館和日本神奈川縣 Kasuya 之森現代美術館等知名機構展出。出色的作品令她贏得重大的商業成功，香港蘇富比去年就以 180 萬港元售出其層次豐富分明的《黑色眼眸》（2016 年），成交價幾乎是拍前低估價的 12 倍。今津在國際藝壇上備受推崇，曾在 2020 年獲提名並入選法國著名的 Prix Jean Francois Prat，而當年的勝出者為托印·奧吉赫·奧杜托拉。