[Solo Show] Fluid, Pleasing Painterly Surfaces — Shonosuke Iida "behind me" @ KOMAGOME1-14cas

Shonosuke Iida “behind me”

I visited Shonosuke Iida’s solo exhibition “behind me,” which doubled as an open studio. The venue is “KOMAGOME1-14cas” on the first floor of Tokyo Studio, a few minutes from Komagome Station.

Because the visit coincided with the open production, Shonosuke Iida himself was in the gallery, right in front of the canvas mid-production. Despite being in the middle of working, he set down his brush and kindly told me all sorts of things.

Shonosuke Iida apparently draws his motifs from film, photography, music, and painting, then synthesizes and expresses them with a cinematic sensibility.

This was my first visit to a Shonosuke Iida solo show, and I was struck by the distinctive painterly surface that suggests skillful brushwork — up close, it’s cool and stylish! The works are oil paintings, yet they have a smooth, slick quality, and one can also sense a flavor in which the movement of the brush comes through.

They are small SM-sized works, but I was also shown pieces not hanging on the wall, laid out on a table for viewing.

 

The in-progress work “CAVE,” painted across an entire wall, seems to contain characters reminiscent of the Seven Dwarfs from Disney — and it hinted at a truly great piece to come.

He apparently has another exhibition scheduled for next month (September 2018).

The works born during this “open production” project will also be shown, and I’m very much looking forward to the next solo show (September 15 – October 28, 2018 @ Ikejiri SUNDAY).