Crispin Sturrock’s #049 Issey Miyake 三宅 一生, 2023 is no mere tribute; it’s a mesmerising homage to the late Japanese designer whose works brought form and movement to life. Painted at a bold 180 x 250 cm, this piece sprawls like an intricate textile, weaving layers of colour and movement that pulse with Miyake’s spirit. There’s a sense of restraint and abandon here, an interplay of tension that hints at Miyake’s journey as an artist, rebel, and visionary. This is art as fabric—where Sturrock’s brush becomes needle and thread, stitching a story that dances between structure and liberation, like the pleats that Miyake revolutionized and infused with his famously humanist ethos.

Miyake, a Hiroshima survivor turned global fashion luminary, never simply crafted garments; he sought freedom—freedom from conventional silhouettes, freedom to experiment with form, freedom to explore technology and push it to places where clothes became “a form of self.” In #049, Sturrock doesn’t just nod to this ethos; he channels it with layers of texture and a symphony of colours that invite the viewer to read each stroke as a journey of self-expression. His earth tones undulate across the canvas like fabric, their abstract composition demanding a closer look, an invitation to feel rather than see.

#049 Issey Miyake 三宅 一生, 2023

Acrylic and oil on canvas

180 x 250 cm / 71 x 102 inches

There’s a deliberate layering here, echoing Miyake’s renowned technique of layering textiles to create something at once humble and magnificent. Crispin’s process, meticulous and informed by months of research, reflects Miyake’s meticulous philosophy of making—a slow, reverent construction of work that is as much about intention as it is about execution. In Sturrock’s abstraction, there’s a sense of Miyake’s harmonious chaos he famously crafted; it’s as if the canvas breathes with the essence of Miyake himself, folding and unfolding with each glance.

Sturrock’s #049 captures the inherent contradictions Miyake loved to play with: simplicity and complexity, fragility and strength, tradition and the avant-garde. Sturrock is known for his process of layering paint over time, letting each layer build upon the last until something new, even unexpected, emerges—much like Miyake’s textile designs, which were as much about engineering as they were about design. Here, the layers pulse beneath the surface, drawing viewers into a silent dialogue between the past and future, a meditation on creativity and resilience.

#049 Issey Miyake 三宅 一生 isn’t merely a “painting about a designer.” It’s a piece that resonates with Miyake’s ideals—a celebration of movement, individuality, and, above all, the humanity that both art and fashion must serve. Sturrock doesn’t just paint Miyake; he resurrects him, reminding us that art—like Miyake’s work—is ultimately about liberation. We’re invited to look, to imagine, to explore, to wear these colours in our minds as we take in the layered complexity of Crispin Sturrock’s painting, a canvas that feels as dynamic as a garment caught in motion, embodying Issey Miyake’s timeless legacy.