Masahiko Kuwahara    
"In the End of Summer"

The works of Masahiko Kuwahara reflect the oddities of the modern world that we occupy now. These are reflected in the strange creatures that inhabit stagnant urban ponds, the pig that finds it has been half-cured, and a multitude of beings that have never been seen before. Other examples include the nameless models, which grace advertisements in magazines and leaflets; this is a world where all images have been consumed and low-prices reign, where sacred beauty, wrapped in sorrow, remains hidden. The modern urban-dweller’s sense of empty loneliness is depicted occasionally as humorous motifs in gentle colors, as if to offer some form of salvation.

This exhibition introduces landscape paintings made between 1996 and 2001. “pink beach” (1996) conjures images of shell hunting, as seen in the simple shells that have been washed ashore. “after that” (2000) presents a abstract field with lush plants. “green field” presents a vacant field that rises above the city landscape.

Masahiko Kuwahara was born in Tokyo in 1959. This exhibition marks his fourth at the Tomio Koyama Gallery (1999, 2001, 2005). Other major exhibitions have included “TOKYO POP” (Hiratsuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa, 1996), traveling exhibition “The Japanese Experience ? Inevitable” (Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtai, Germany, 2002), “POPjack: Warhol to Murakami” (Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado, USA, 2002), “The Secret Forest of Princess Knight: Fantastic Landscapes from Japan” (Curated by Taro Chiezo, M.Y. Art Prospects, New York), and “Portrait Session” (Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art/Nadiff, Tokyo, 2007).

Tomio Koyama Gallery
　 Contact information for press materials：Tomoko Omori  tel / 813-3642-4090

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