About the artist:

Capturing the Zen concept of “enough but not more,” Osamu Tatematsu has amassed a wonderfully vibrant compilation of poignant paintings that will adorn the cases of the Frederick Harris Gallery for two weeks this month. The serenity and action of the Buddhist teachings at the core of Tatematsu’s exhibition are expressed with graceful strokes and unabashed simplicity. “I have striven to depict the utmost beauty [in a minimal form],” he says. “Putting it in another way, by simplifying and making [it] more abstract, my work depicts the self-discipline of Zen teachings.” Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1935, the artist has traveled abroad extensively, finding inspiration for many of his works along the way. He has held both solo and group shows in a number of cities around the world, including Paris in 1993, New York City in 1997 and Kyoto last year. This latest existential exhibition, which is titled “Inner Japanese Thinking—Kan,” fittingly debuted to much acclaim at Kyoto’s Nanzen Temple, the headquarters of the Nanzen branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism and one of the five great Zen temples in Japan’s ancient imperial capital.