In a letter written to his brother Theo, Vincent van Gogh explains that, to him, sounds were also displayed in color and certain tones, yellow and blue being two of them, reverberated across his senses like fireworks. A similar statement made by the post-impressionist genius to his then piano teacher got him expelled from their classes for good – the master claimed to be sure of the student’s insanity. Shizue Sakamoto’s creative realm also dances among sound (or lack of it) and a profound study of color. This bold fusion serves as a guideline for the exhibition “Color Score”, on display throughout this month at Galeria Kogan Amaro. The show celebrates the entering of the São Paulo creator into the group of artists represented by the gallery.

Shizue studied violin for some years, many of which were also inhabited by the fine arts. “Sometimes when I paint it’s like I’m playing the violin. It requires precise and firm but soft gestures just like the act of painting”, explains her. As well as in sound, Shizue sees colors as a way of seeking pure sensations and emotions. The heat reverberated from Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (1888), by Van Gogh, has triggered the creation of this exhibition. It was the thousands of hours Shizue spent gazing at the painting’s print that made her reach the precise color of the only one of her works which vibrates within the same hue of the master’s. From this, stemmed all seven subsequent canvas – at times made in shades of blue, at others in shades of pink as if immersed in sunrise – that complete the composition orchestrated by the artist in the São Paulo gallery.

Diligent student of color, she has perfected such skills through classes taken between 2012 and 2014 from artist Paulo Pasta. The refinement of her work made her go back to working on paper, a medium that provided her with more confidence to reach peculiar notes. Once on this new level, she was able to get back to canvas showing nuances never reached before. The portals of light she creates from brushstrokes transport us to pieces linked to the Light and Space Movement, a California group from the sixties comprised of people such as James Turrell and Doug Wheeler. Both of them allow for tripping through color tunnels that connect us to a spiritual universe of sensations. A harmony envisioned to visualize and define, once and for all, the colors to compose this score.