Abstract:


Yutaka Aoki expands the scope of painting through an examination of the relationship between painting and the surrounding world, and of the many possibilities that are born from that exchange. Employing multiple techniques, Aoki’s gaze is always on the study of light and its three-dimensional quality. Supplemented by transformations engendered by specific elements in the environment, including the passage of time, the presence of an audience, and the nature of the exhibition space, light imbues his work with an organic richness, providing a visual experience that awakens the natural human senses desensitized by our increasingly digital lives.

Yutaka Aoki was born in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan in 1985 and is currently based in Tokyo. In 2008, he graduated from Tokyo Zokei University’s Department of Fine Arts, and received a Master of Fine Arts from the same institution in 2010. He presented a major solo exhibition “OUTER ROOM, INNER GARDEN” at the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto in 2012. Notable group exhibitions include “The Way of Painting” (Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, 2014), “VOCA” (The Ueno Royal Museum, 2016), and “Collection Exhibition” (Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, 2016). In addition to the collection of the Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Aoki’s works have been acquired by the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection.