‘Monyou’ (文様 pronounced ‘mon yoh’) is the name given to traditional Japanese patterns and pictorial symbols, which are used to decorate woven and dyed fabrics as well as craft objects. Some of them are considered to be auspicious symbols and are used often in repeated patterns.

This exhibition by the Japanese artist Junko O’Neill showcases her latest work including paintings that incorporate these traditional patterns of ‘Monyou’. O’Neill, however, incorporates them merely as composition tools, moving away from the hidden meanings of each symbol and not using them in their literal sense.

With the common thread within her work being ‘Ma’, a Japanese specio-temporal concept, O’Neill created a body of contemporary abstract paintings using ‘Iwaenogu’(lit ‘rock paints’), traditional Japanese paints made from particles of pulverised minerals and glass. There will be painting demonstrations as well as displays of the materials she uses.

Junko O’Neill was born in Tokyo. She received her BA and MA in Fine Art Painting at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. Her work was selected for various exhibitions including AMATERAS Annual Paper Art Exhibition (Sofia, 2017), A Sporting Life at Southampton City Art
Gallery (2016), The Lichfield Prize Exhibition (2016), and Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize Exhibition (London, 2015). O'Neill was also longlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize (2018) and shortlisted for Kudos International (2013) and the Celeste Prize (2011). She now lives and works in Winchester, Hampshire.

Free admission