Japanese Garden by Roy Kadowaki

A beautifully balanced composition depicts, on either side of its central planter, a knobbly gourd and ringed vase of similar shape. Our conception of what constitutes a garden blurs distinctions between human-cultivated plants and human-created objects, like the polished table, pleasing containers and lacework. As with his NDG still lifes “Japanese Plant” and “Still Life,” a sort of flaming life-force surrounds the objects in gently burning colors—although most pronounced in this painting.