TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY is pleased to announce that Tomoji Yasuda’s first solo exhibition, “Brandpunt and Focus” which starts on September 20.

Yasuda was born in Hokkaido in 1985 and graduated from the Faculty of Arts at Kyoto Saga University of Arts with a specialization in oil painting in 2008.

He creates works based on pixelated digital images until they induce a sense of perceptual fluctuation.

The canvas is divided into grids based on the number of pixels. Each square has subtle differences, and the meticulous process of matching colors and applying paint involves quietly confronting the materiality of paint, rather than imagining the whole picture while painting. Only when the final square is filled and the work is complete does the artist finally see the overall image.

Yasuda says, “By matching colors, each color comes to hold a vast amount of information.”

However, when viewed from a distance, those colors blend within the viewer’s consciousness to produce a single representational image.

This phenomenon, where something that can only be understood from a distance yet overwhelms us with its information when viewed up close, is familiar to us as observers.

In this exhibition, approximately 15 works from the Pixel Series will be exhibited. We warmly invite you to take this opportunity to view the works.

[Artist Statement]

I once saw the night view of Hakodate, and it was incredibly beautiful.

Countless particles of light spread out before me, with almost no lights in the uninhabited sea and mountains.

Each light represents someone’s life, and it got me thinking.

The streetlights on the highway, the moving headlights beneath them, and the countless vertical lights—though their outlines are not visible, you can tell they are office buildings or apartments.

I gazed at them for a while, thinking that if even one of those lights were to go out, it would feel as if I had connected with someone for just a moment.

Then, I returned my gaze to the entire nightscape.

Thinking about the time spent reflecting on each of those countless lights becomes overwhelming, making it hard to grasp what I should be focusing on.

So, I stopped thinking and just continued to watch.

Eventually, when I was able to accept the scene in front of me as a “nightscape” again, what I had been observing sank into my subconscious.