Shiori Tono “fragments of memory”
I visited “fragments of memory,” a solo exhibition by artist Shiori Tono, who is based in Onomichi. The venue was MASAHIRO MAKI GALLERY in Omotesando.
Shiori Tono’s practice begins with preparing a photograph of her motif.
She lays masking tape alternately over the enlarged photograph. She then peels off the tape, and
accepts the resulting state, transferring it directly onto a separately prepared canvas as she paints.
The image is broken down block by block, and each block is carefully painted in oil. Even between adjacent blocks, the shades of paint shift subtly.
The photographs that serve as motifs are of everyday scenes and things related to Tono herself. Shiori Tono adopts this approach because of the gaze each of us holds toward memory.
Interested in the characteristics and systems of “memory” — its inevitability of deterioration and loss — she translates them into painting. The distinctive painted surface, in which parts of the image are peeled away, also brings to mind the block noise produced when digital images degrade.
Shiori Tono looks at our vague and fleeting “memory” objectively, calmly gazing at its lapses and discontinuities as she turns them into work. She has strong support from collectors, her sales have been solid, and she is a young artist to watch closely going forward.
