STANDING PINE

STANDING PINE is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Tomoaki Shitara entitled ‘KUMORISORA NI ANA NO AITEIRU E (A Picture of Holes in the Cloudy Sky)’ from Saturday 6th April. Shitara is known for its unique style of painting not only on canvases but also various supports. His diverse brushwork and unexpected motifs invite viewers to enter Shitara’s distinctive world. In this exhibition, his new works including oil paintings and silverpoints will be exhibited.

The title of this exhibition ‘KUMORISORA NI ANA NO AITEIRU E (A Picture of Holes in the Cloudy Sky)’ is one of the exhibits as well. In the greyish background on the canvas, there are a number of various holes floating, one painted in black and another with mysterious woman. Shitara says ‘Painting would be, so to speak, something like a hole.’ The paintings displayed on the white wall of the gallery space appears in front of viewers as if they are the holes to escape from the inorganic space.

Additionally, Shitara added texts written in alphabets, Chinese characters and Japanese characters to the paintings such as ‘SENPUUKI TO NEHAN (An Electric Fan and Nirvana)’ and ‘YUME NO NAKA DE YUME WO TSUKURU TOKORO (A Place to Make Dreams in a Dream)’. These words are resonating with various motifs in the paintings. It has been discussed that painting and poetry are closely related since ancient times as the saying goes ‘Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks.’. Shitara’s words written in his paintings are not only additional explanation for the images but also a compatible means of representing his ideas, which sometimes paradoxically works. Shitara’s paintings and texts, these representations are synergistically supporting with each other and make his artworks more attractive.

Is seems that Shitara’s works are based on the world can be called non-conscious. The motifs and their ways of representation is sometimes changing into something even the artist himself did not expected. The works produced as emergence create a wonderful world view and stimulate viewers curiosity.

曇空ニ穴ノ空イテイル絵 / 2018
Oil and Silverpoint on Canvas / 1333×970mm



HEYA NO E (A Picture of a Room) / 2018
Oil and Silverpoint on Canvas / 455×275mm