MASANORI TOMITA

Artist bio

Snail Traces
October 21 - November 18, 2018
Opening reception: Sunday, October 21, 3-6pm

KAYOKOYUKI will hold the second solo exhibition by Masanori Tomita “Snail Traces”, starting October 21st.

Tomita’s painting, seemingly abstract art, originates from the sketches of scenes and minor motifs in his surroundings. While depicting them through painting, Tomita also overlays his momentary feelings on canvas. For example, Tomita explains that the act of painting in white, often conducted in his production process, represents something like a blank of a certain moment that was lost from his consciousness. This remark indicates that even without concrete images, each of his drawings is an expression of a trace of his “perception.”

In this manner, a picture suggestive of a mineral vein with glaze-like colors finally shows up. The image appears to be filled merely with the representation of keen perceptions concerning small details, losing its cohesiveness as a whole. On that image, paints are caked and solidified; meanwhile, it is wavering like a mirage and will never form one concrete image. At every moment, something is emerging and flashing, and transforming into a bending wood branch, a crack on ground, a ruffling wind on the surface of the water, while continually shaking.

While playing with a Rubik’s Snake (*1) in his atelier, Tomita described these images as “similar to my perceptions which are wavering, transforming into another images, shriveling, and fading away.”
One whole entity disassembles into small details through a gaze. Capturing the state of perception that starts walking independently through the act of painting. The images represented in his painting are nothing short of the events in slow motion, i.e. snail traces, in which certain moments are stretched out.

* A toy with 24 wedges that are right isosceles triangular prisms. Being twisted, the Rubik's Snake can be made to resemble a variety of objects such as straight line, a snake, a dog, a capsule, or a rectangle.

Masanori Tomita was born in 1989 in Kumamoto, Japan.
Recently, Tomita presented his work in "Studio Exhibition" at Satoshi Ohno studio, Yamanashi, 2018, "Hikarie Contemporary Art Eye vol.9 supervised by Tomio Koyama -through the glasses" at Shibuya Hikarie, Tokyo, 2018, "quiz" at KAYOKOYUKI, Tokyo, 2016, ”Inner Flash" at Space Wunderkammer, Tokyo, 2014, "SLASH/ sqare” at gallery 5, Tokyo, 2014, ”Masanori Tomita / Koji Nakazono” at TURNER GALLERY, Tokyo, 2012, "Mutodu" at TURNER GALLERY, Tokyo, 2012. Lives and works in Tokyo.