Shoma Kimura, “Virtually Unswimming”
Shoma Kimura’s solo exhibition “Full Lightness” has opened.
The venue is THE TRIANGLE, an exhibition space at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art (Basement 1F, main building).
Shoma Kimura, winner of the Grand Prize at the 4th CAF Award (2017), is a young artist attracting attention with his remarkable activity.
He is known for creating works that combine traditional painting — with brush, paints, and canvas — with 3DCG (3D computer graphics) and VR (virtual reality) pieces that incorporate the rules of painting.
The title of this exhibition, “Virtually Unswimming,” is a metaphor comparing digital technology to the difficulty of moving underwater.
The exhibition provides a VR headset that allows visitors to view 3DCG footage in which the exhibition space is rendered in VR.
Through the headset, viewers see objects resembling the motifs in the paintings floating in three dimensions. Looking at the paintings again after watching the video produces impressions markedly different from those experienced before viewing it.
The first floor of THE TRIANGLE serves as the northwest entrance and is a free space enclosed in glass. Paint applied to the glass surfaces was catching the sunlight and shining beautifully.
Building a relationship between the digital and painting and offering viewers fresh insight, Shoma Kimura’s practice is one to keep watching closely.
