Heavenly Spring by John Tanji Koga

John Tanji Koga (b.1964)
Heavenly Spring, 2021
Oil on Canvas
30″H x 24″W

Heavenly Spring by JOHN KOGA (1964) is one of the four original oil paintings commissioned by Halekulani made especially to be displayed on the walls of our rooms and suites.  The juxtaposition of forms brings to mind an inverted version of a composition of another piece in the collection titled “Submerged Rock” by Tadashi Sato, who was a mentor to Koga. Following the legacy not only of his counterparts in Hawaiʻi, but also of the Abstract Expressionists, his work uses abstraction in a modern way to achieve a balance unique to his work. There is a gravity to this falling orb, a tension between the larger and smaller forms either approaching or retracting from each other, and a veil of mystery where the laws of physics do not add up. The use of feathering of edges has become a familiar hallmark of this artist’s oeuvre.