Itsuki Kaito “Tarinai Junju (The Insufficient Circling Beast)”
We visited the solo exhibition by visual artist Itsuki Kaito. The venue is the Art Wall Gallery at Ginza Tsutaya Books on the 6th floor of GINZA SIX.
Itsuki Kaito is a painter who mythically expresses the sensitive inner worlds lurking in the human heart — including anti-morality and narcissism laden with a sense of shame.
While still enrolled in the graduate program at Kyoto City University of Arts, she was selected as a first- and second-generation KUMA Foundation scholar; in 2017 she was nominated for the CAF Prize; and from 2018 she has held successful solo exhibitions in Tokyo and Beijing. She is a highly promising young artist making a remarkable mark both in Japan and abroad.
Born in 1993, she grounds her practice in the sensibility of a street- and digital-native generation while “rediscovering” the analog feel of the real paintbrush to produce paintings. The masochistic motifs that seem to lay bare the human interior, and the mysterious, at times violent scenes she depicts, cannot be captured in a single meaning — they visualize the fluctuations and transformations of personal identity, and are based on a unique narrative mythology unfolding around the battles of the “Amazons.”
At this exhibition, titled “Tarinai Junju (The Insufficient Circling Beast),” she presents new works exploring the theme of an insatiable ego and its transformation. It is her only solo exhibition in Japan this year.
Itsuki Kaito has many opportunities to exhibit overseas. We look forward to her international activities.
