In his artworks the Japanese artist Sumi Maro (born in 1954 in Tsu, Mie-ken) deals with the history of western painting in a radical way, whereby he is always inspired by his respective muse. Sumi Maro`s recent exhibition is dedicated to Fatiah, whom he met in Cologne for the first time in 1995. He describes her as follows: "Behind the beautiful woman I see twinkling ornaments, and behind this is God."
32 works will be presented, all of which testify to Sumi Maro`s <<virtual love>> of Fatiah. The three series answer the question of what Fatiah means to him."The Way to Fatiah" depicts the various ways he tried to approach her. His favourite work by Jan van Eyck, "The Altar of Ghent" (1432), was the inspiration for the series "Fatiah - Holy Place in Ghent". In the last series, "Fatiah`s Dream", he sees Fatiah in the context of famous paintings. Whether Lichtenstein, Klee or Giotto: With Fatiah, all of them are the same.
The exhibition thus connects with Sumi Maro`s recreation of Albrecht Altdorfer`s "Battle of Alexandria" (1529-32),which was shown at his last exhibition in Cologne in November 1999. This detailed painting,as well as Altdorfer himself, had occupied Simi Maro for more than three years, whereby he redefined the epic painting of "The Battle of Issos" into a contemporary image of a fight of a particular person with oneself (for an image). With the painting "Dedicated to Albrecht Altdorfer Sumi Maro Shifts A.A. Soul from the battle of Alexandria to the Battle of Chistian Zacharias OR: The Battle Of Chistian Zacharias", Sumi Maro finally said goodbye to his muse Aoki, who had motivated him and his works for altogether 13 years, in order to devote himself fully to Fatiah.