exhibition

“In this exhibition, girls, Japanese gods, dolls, skeletons, monsters, and so on appear in large numbers.

When I thought about my motivation for painting girls again, I realized that girls are in a period when their lives are vivid, and that the ambiguity between childhood and adulthood is precisely what makes them innocent and I feel it is beautiful. On the other hand, I think that the reason I paint skeletons, demons, dolls, and gods as beings that contrast with girls is because I want to somehow express the transience of living things, which eventually decay and return to the earth, as a contrast to life. I express life and death by painting girls as symbols of life, and gods, dolls, skeletons and monsters as symbols of death and transience.”

(Ryohei Shimazaki)

Ryohei Shimazaki learns from history about the traditional techniques, compositions, and motifs of ukiyo-e, and depicts the world as seen by his own eyes (the world of joy and sorrow), the realizations and emotions of daily life, and personal desires, with expressions including the artist’s unique humor and metaphors.

In recent years, he has become more conscious of “life and death,” and his craving for the real feeling about them has become his motivation for creating. While savoring the transience of fleeting emotions that come with being alive, he aims to sublimate them into a positive feeling by turning them into laughter using his unique sensibility, and to express the beauty of the female body as it changes toward death.

By pursuing a variety of brushstrokes　expression　including delicate and bold, and flexibly incorporating coincidence, he practices daily to be able to draw the ideal lines. Please take this opportunity to come and see his work.