GRAVITY series

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Since I began oil painting in 2012, my style has been between abstract and realism. I struggled to make my work as realistic as I wanted, as I was using layered strokes to build up colour. During the winter vacation in 2015 I created the “Love” series. I found that in one work, “Untitled 1”, I could not achieve the detail I desired and spent more and more time adding layers to the canvas. It was at this time that I decided to change the way I was painting, using thin oil on canvas.

I presented this work and another in the series at the “Eggoism” exhibition in Tokyo later in the year. However, this new way of painting presented its own problems. The oil was taking longer to dry, the colours were too opaque. While considering these problems I moved on to the “Kiss” series”.

From this point I decided to test my technique to create the most detailed work I could. I used a photographer and life models to study delicate facial expression. Using the thin oil technique I found that after a month I had only completed one painting in the series, and was criticised by my professors. I decided to work on more abstract projects and develop my technique further.

In the final semester of 2015 my department held an exhibition for students. At the same time I joined a Temperare class testing what I had learned by using the technique to fix the “Kiss series". In one month I had completed my most realistic work to date, and found an area in which I was very interested. The positive feedback I received for this work from my mentors was a breakthrough.

GRAVITY series

2016 . August - December

The idea for “GRAVITY” occurred to me after the Eggoism exhibition. Love has many different forms: lost love, puppy love, unconditional or unrequited. I think of love as a kind of sweet responsibility. What I wanted to portray in the “GRAVITY” series is the pressure of being in love. My aim is to make the audience feel this pressure. The subject of series work 2 is a rock, this comes from a nightmare I had as a child. In the nightmare I saw the rock and was told I had to swallow it. I would wake wet with tears and sweat from the pressure. In choosing this project I also challenged myself to create my most detailed work on the largest canvas I have yet attempted, within a limited time.