EXHIBITIONS

Tokyo International Gallery presents an exhibition
by up-and-coming artist Shotaro Sanada “BETWEEN: Landscape and You”

Tokyo International Gallery (Shinagawa, Tennozu) is pleased to present “BETWEEN: Landscape and You” a solo exhibition by Shotaro Sanada.

Sanada’s “new landscapes” create a space between the work and the viewer, like a window, and his works, which extend upward to envelop the viewer, create a dialogue with the viewer.
Many of the public artworks Sanada has created in the past have been exhibited as landscapes that continue to exist there despite their transformation, illustrating the power of painting to connect people in a particular place.
In this exhibition, in addition to his large-scale works, Sanada will present large- scale three-dimensional installations, creating a space where viewers can immerse themselves in “new landscapes.“

―Artist Statement―

Initial motivation for painting with an awareness of the act of “creating artwork” was to “paint new landscapes that reflect the present age and have them seen by many people. Today, we live in a chaotic information society, and people are busy. In such a life, we need time to stop and look at the scenery and calm our minds.
I also had a bit of arrogance in wanting people to share the experience of connecting with others through the landscapes I depict, in an age where people easily build physical and mental walls out of fear of not being able to see. In any case, I felt the need to create a “new landscape” for the modern age.

In order to depict “new landscapes,” I thought it was important to express sensitively the long time that landscapes take to form and the gravity that is unconsciously felt by our bodies as we gaze at the landscape.
What was useful for this was the sense that “the landscape stretches vertically. Trees grow straight upward, and their roots spread underground to complete the natural landscape. The strata and oceans deeply support the world, and the sky and the universe also emphasize our smallness with their astonishing heights. Buildings are also piled vertically from foundation to high-rise to compose the urban landscape.

These elements are painted in unified brushstrokes perpendicular to the screen, and the flow of time is captured in a single plane, expressed as gradations and afterimages. By extracting colors from the actual landscape and reconstructing them on the screen, I build up layers while canceling out the differences between the part and the whole, the center and the periphery.

I concluded that this was the best way for me to depict “new landscapes. The “Landscape” series of works thus completed is a series of large paintings in which elements from actual landscapes are abstracted and reconstructed as new landscapes.

Based on careful planning of brushstrokes, color selection, and composition, the artist aims to create a realistic depiction of the landscape. It is then a creative project that continues to depict ever-evolving landscapes while embracing the improvised brush strokes and unexpected changes that occur during production. The paintings, rooted in history and produced in response to the ever-changing information society, will look at us as “new landscapes” skillfully containing the two elements of inheritance and change.

It is a living person who paints a picture. Therefore, regardless of the artist’s awareness, the work reflects a cross-section of the era in which the artist lives. It is said that with the advent of photography, the role of paintings as records has diminished, but even so, it is necessary to rethink how the zeitgeist of a painting affects our understanding of the work.

Each time paint is added to an empty canvas, the painting is filled with heterogeneous elements. This heterogeneity is unstable and has the potential to change the relationship between the elements in an instant. If it is the painting that quietly reflects the dynamic process toward completion, then the significance of the painting as a recording medium has not been lost as it is complete within the work.

In this way, the completed painting takes in the people present and appears before their eyes as a force that influences reality. My paintings are both walls and windows. As soon as it seems to separate space, it immediately connects reality and fiction and tries to create a relationship with us. It is as if the painting is looking at us. I would like to open up a “new landscape” in which all viewers can share the time spent looking at the same painting equally, and in which a rich sense of reflection on oneself and the world is created.