About & paintings | Sakura Hochegger

Born in Kyoto, Japan.
Work and live in Brighton, UK.

As a painter, I focus more on the process and being in the moment rather than observational approaches. Letting my painting be a painting, the notion and the challenges of letting the paint and surface (linen, canvas etc) tell me what to do.

My practice also draws on my everyday life like a flash of colour or fragments of memory. For the first time the tunnel between the canvas and myself seems to be more solid, wider and smoother than ever.

I don’t plan my paintings, therefore I often scrape, scratch or add more. The process can go on for a week or few months. Sometimes, I might leave a half finished painting for 2 months then I work on it for 2 minutes and it’ll be a finished painting.

I use primarily oil and pigment, I love the slow drying quality, I can leave the painting and come back to it while it is still wet enough to work on. Painting for me is letting go of things, a bit like mindfulness.

For me, painting is a place without limitations. If I focus on the process, experiencing it and I live it, in a way I don't go too far, there is a whole freedom in it. When I keep a beginner's mind, painting is a place with so much possibilities, challenges and fun where one can be free. With every painting I go back to the beginning to explore something I don't know yet.

I studied Fashion design BA at Central Saint Martins but I feel painting is where my heart really is. I want to get to know painting as much as I can in every way. After painting about a year or so I realised painting will let me get to know it more and more as long as I engage with it. It is a two way conversation.