‘Hyuganatsu’ by Kevin Jay Stanton

Artist: Kevin Jay Stanton
Title: ‘Hyuganatsu’
Medium: Gouache on cedar wood panel
Dimensions: 8.5″ x 3.5″ x 1″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2025

NOTE: This piece was available to purchase as part of ‘Memories Become Dreams’ show, which ran between 4th – 25th April 2025. If you would like to inquire about its current availability, please email sales@wowxwow.com and we will be delighted to assist.

Description

‘Hyuganatsu’ by Kevin Jay Stanton

Artist: Kevin Jay Stanton
Title: ‘Hyuganatsu’
Medium: Gouache on cedar wood panel
Dimensions: 8.5″ x 3.5″ x 1″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2025

About the Artwork:

Hyuganatsu is inspired by a fruit I desperately wanted to try when I got to Japan. The story goes that the original tree was found in Miyazaki, Japan, and has been cultivated there ever since. The citrus itself is most like a lemon, but is usually eaten with the pith removed but the white remaining for an extra hint of sweetness. During a residency in March, I was able to find and eat a bunch of them. I was enchanted by how bright and sour (yet lightly sweet) they are.

When the store stopped selling them though, I went back to the hunt, eventually finding a bag that said “haruka” but my phone translated as “hyuganatsu.” I wondered then if all of the citrus I’d been eating was actually this descendant of the fruit I wanted instead. Until I took the first bite: still distinctly lemon and not orange, but incredibly sweet. Tasty. But most of all I was relieved that the original fruits I’d been eating were the real thing. Even if I can no longer seem to find them right now, I have the memory of exactly what I’d been searching for to take with me. – Kevin Jay Stanton

About the Artist:

(Artist Bio)

Kevin Jay Stanton is an illustrator with a green thumb. His work focuses on plants and symbolism and is inspired by historical and mythological research. The culmination of this was his successful project with Beehive Books, in the form of Botanica Tarot in 2020, which featured 78 paintings and broke the record for Most Funded Tarot at the time of its funding. He spends his time opening too many tabs, gardening, and playing videogames.