Case #23

Shingo Honda (1944 – 2019, Japan) “Case #23” (1993) is an acrylic painting on canvas measuring 63 x 98 x 3 inches, signed and dated by the artist in the lower left and titled and dated on the verso. The large, impressive abstract work features icy tones in shades of white and gray with accents and flashes of color in ambiguous and circular shapes.

Honda was killed in December 2019 while in Hawaii. He was a well-known painter, sculptor, and Zen teacher whose work has been featured in galleries in Japan, Hawaii, Los Angeles and elsewhere since 1967. On his website, www.ShingoHonda.com, he is quoted regarding his “Case” series of paintings created while living in Los Angeles between 1992 and 1999, “…, I painted conceptual flowers as though they were captured for a moment on a scrap of paper, something you could tear away to reveal the pure white canvas. And they’re in a sort of space, but the space is indeterminate. Where’s the bottom? Where’s the top? Are the flowers inside or outside? Are they coming or going?”