[Painting Dept. / Oil Painting] The 66th "Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation/Completion Works Exhibition" — Notable Artists: The Four Heavenly Kings

The 66th “Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation/Completion Works Exhibition”

I visited the first day of the 66th “Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation/Completion Works Exhibition.”

I looked around at works from undergraduates, graduate students, and each faculty, but as expected the master’s-course artists stood out. This time, let me introduce four completion-course artists picked at my own discretion.

Mie Irokawa

Even though she majors in oil painting, Mie Irokawa put lithograph works front and center.

The large works were good, but actually a small cactus piece was my favorite. However, I got so absorbed in talking with the artist herself that I forgot to take a photo… A cat bathing in a small bath inside a cactus was cute and well drawn. She also employed a technique of coloring from the back of ganpishi paper—a very fine, cool work.

https://twitter.com/W8whUEzEXznR6nI/status/957555863161421824

At the Geidai graduation/completion exhibition prints, Mie Irokawa’s work was good. The human body, stomach, cells, and so on were packed with various things. pic.twitter.com/pQQTUdeg67

— 狐犬 (@W8whUEzEXznR6nI) January 28, 2018

Ryu Kawada

Ryu Kawada’s work, a 500-go large piece he brought in, made a striking impact. It’s a size that barely fits across one wall of the classroom. I overheard a conversation between him and a friend—to the question “what will you do with it after this?”, his easygoing “I haven’t decided at all…” made a good impression.

https://twitter.com/morrison_kato/status/959208839303303168

Koichiro Tada

I don’t much like female paintings drawn by men, but the female paintings Tada draws have just the right measure of poison and gray areas, and I felt reality in them. I sensed some unevenness in the works’ completion, giving the impression of an artist with room to grow. An artist to look forward to.

https://twitter.com/mochiunagi/status/957540744314593281

Tsugumi Fujita (Ami Fujita)

Tsugumi Fujita’s display was the work I spent the most time viewing. Above all, the largest work, “√5-chome, the Invisible World,” let me experience the illusion of slipping into an endlessly continuing, enigmatic world while comparing the left and right worlds.