We will exhibit at Art Fair Asia Fukuoka 2023.
Please enjoy the works of Keiki Yamada and Yuya Fujita on the theme of “Journey”, as well as gems of Modern Japanese Oil Painting by Takeji Fujishima, Rei Kamoi, and others.
Keiki Yamada － A home with stone walls to return to －
As I made “The Last Supper” paintings, one after another, they gradually came to express my own dining table.
This became particularly clear from 2021 onwards, as I seemed to paint images of my own home that I was still to discover.
The space portrayed as a symbol of the home in the original Last Supper may have been Leonardo’s depiction of an ideal environment, with its comfort of being encompassed by stone walls, the protection provided from the outside, and the doorless openings and open windows which allow free movement and constant connection with others.
I noticed, this was where I had recently been placing my subjects, on the long table and windowsills of the room in The Last Supper! My paintings often teach me more about myself than I think I know. My early still life works, which I started making in 2007, had clearly visualized backgrounds.
The imagery could be described as surreal or illusionistic, but eventually I became to wish for viewers to immerse themselves inside the paintings, in whatever surroundings they imagined.
Thus, I have since painted empty floor-like backgrounds which seemingly sprawl infinitely into the distance, so as not to distract from the viewers’ inspirations.
The last time I depicted a solid background was in the painting of a pear perched on a stone windowsill.
Those who have intimately known my works often describe the sensation of perceiving solid surroundings in the plain backgrounds.
What I noticed while working on my current theme of “travel” is that I had been placing my easel inside the rooms of The Last Supper that I painted. I now have the joy of working surrounded by those stone walls.
On the table in front of myself I placed an eggplant, and while observing it next to my favorite miniature car, also placed my subway sandwich lunch. In this year of 2023, my practice of classical painting, and all the fond scenes from my memories which I have been visualizing in my works, have finally started to unite.
It also feels as though I have at last found a house to come home to. In the corner of my room, I will place a small mound of forever pure salt as a sacred offering.
Keiki Yamada
Yuya Fujita ― Voyage ―
The symbols of France and particularly Paris have long captivated travelers from around the world, myself being one those enchanted by them.
These works depict those monuments in the colours and forms imprinted in my memory.
Yuya Fujita
●VIP view
21st Sep. (Thu) 16:00 – 20:00
22nd Sep. (Sat) 11:00 – 14:00
●Public View
22nd Sep. (Sat) 14:00 – 19:00
23th Sep. (Sat) 11:00 – 19:00
24th Sep. (Sat) 11:00 – 17:00
●Venue
MARINE MESSE FUKUOKA Hall B 2-1 Okihama-machi, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
SHIHODO Gallery’s Booth S13
●Ticket
Advance ticket JPY2,500.- / Same-day ticket JPY3,000.- (including tax)
