Japanese Light Painter

“Hikarie” Light Painting features live performances by Jinpei, who uses his unique technique to create paintings with light. As the performance venue is plunged into complete darkness, sweeping arcs of light "paint" a wall-sized canvas. Allegorical and symbolic figures and landscapes emerge, only to vanish within minutes. As each element fades and is replaced, the audience enters a waking dream world, a night garden of wonder.

In 1989, Jinpei invented and developed HIKARIE (Painting with Light), a technique that utilizes a special light source on treated canvas. This unique, ephemeral form of performance art creates paintings that fade within minutes, leaving luminous images in the mind's eye of the spectators. Jinpei has collaborated with musicians using HIKARIE, notably in the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare-sponsored AIDS initiative, RED RIBBON LIVE 2008, performing alongside Alan, Angela Aki, Teru from GLAY, HYDE, Eriko Imai, Mao Kobayashi, and Kyoko Sasaki.

The length of the light painting performance varies based on the event and space size but typically lasts 5-20 minutes. For the light painting to be viewed effectively, all lights in the space must be turned off or blocked out.