GALLERY MoMo

GALLERY MoMo Projects is pleased to present a solo exhibition of Shunsuke Taira titled Cityscapes in Blurred Light. In this exhibition, Taira will show his latest paintings themed on  “labor.”  “Blurred Light” in the title is a word Taira created by imagining the light and sight that appears in the other side of drowsiness and fatigue like a phantom. 

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From the beginning, Taira mainly uses the urban buildings and constructions as his motifs with his imaginations. The traditional architectures, buildings in the urban city, and industrial constructions Taira described in his paintings show the small hope, and also include the sense of disappointment. They are even ironic.

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By showing the imaginary futuristic scenes, the artist succeeds in highlighting the issues that people have faced, since the Industrial Revolution; modern civilization has improved our life for a long time, but it has also brought a lot of problems such as environmental pollutions and destroying the traditional cultures and buildings.  Also, he employs human body parts to express the desires and the contradiction many people have in the high technology society.      

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The detailed buildings in his works have both déjà vu and the future we have never seen. In addition, they give a feeling of anxiety and craziness that the ideals and the desires lead to. However, the lights in his works give viewers a warm feeling and suggest a small flame of hope that leads us to the place where we should be in the future. The artist said that he liked to see the night views in the industrial area. With a sense of exaltation from the advance in technology, Taira looks at the depth of people’s everyday life.  

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Based on his experiences of part-time jobs in the warehouse and his friends’ working experiences, Taira depicts the scenes mixed with reality and illusion in the latest paintings. Showing the scenes that are depressed and empty by using the dark tone and the motifs, they embody the working environment of modern Japanese society. Even though there are no anthropomorphic elements as in the early works and no people in the works, the feeling of exhaustion created by the people in the city adds humanity to the fictional world of the paintings.   

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Shunsuke Taira was born in 1988 in Tokyo and graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2012. He received his MA from the university in 2014 and had the first solo exhibition at the gallery. His works are in Pigozzi Collection and Hokubu Memorial Picture Museum. 

 

 

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Artist Comment

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The keyword of “fatigue of city” has been a stick in my head for years. 
I’ve always felt that the urban landscape that is seemingly gorgeous is bleeding with some distortion and depression. 
I cannot help being conscious of the people who work in the skyscrapers, which are the symbol of the town, and the latest huge commercial facilities rather than the buildings. 
For me, the city is not a symbol of development, but a densely populated area of labor. 
As an artist, I feel alienated and out of the loop when I saw the office workers who withstand a crowded train by blocking the senses with the screen of smartphones and earphones, and the construction crews who keep assembling building materials while getting sunburned. 
Just as I have my perspective, they also have their perspectives as a worker. I can only imagine, but I wanted to express the various landscapes they see as beautiful landscape paintings. 

 

Shunsuke Taira

 

 

 

 

1988    Born in Hiroshima, Japan
2012    B.F.A., Painting, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
2014    M.F.A., Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
   
[Solo Exhibition]    
2021    GALLERY MoMo Projects, Tokyo
2016    GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
2014    GALLERY MoMo Projects, Tokyo
   
[Group Exhibition]    
2020    "Rethink" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
2014    "Group Show" Tokyo Metropolitan Senior High School of Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Classical Music, Tokyo
2012    "Turning Point vol.2" GALLERY MoMo Roppongi, Tokyo
            "interaction vol.1" GALLERY MoMo Roppongi, Tokyo
2011    "New-laid eggs vol.2" GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo
   
[Collection]    
The JAPIGOZZI Collection

Hokubu Memorial Picture Museum, Hokkaido