Satoru Kurata “2P”
I visited “2P,” a solo exhibition by young painter Satoru Kurata, a graduate of Musashino Art University.
The venue is Tomio Koyama Gallery (Roppongi).
What are the beings inside a painting looking at, and who is looking at them?
Even with nothing in front of you, it is possible to depict “something.”
But in that case, the moment the image is born, a transparent observer watching it also comes into vague existence.
Who is that observer? It could be called the artist’s gaze, or simply a third-person perspective — but because it arises spontaneously, like a shadow, it is also an uncanny presence.
I have long been thinking about this problem of the gaze. The series I call “P” divides the canvas into multiple frames, each depicted from the viewpoint of a being within the painting.
The two spaces are simultaneous, forming a closed, second-person painting free of any third-party gaze.
Here, the one who sees is also the one who is seen — each exists only through being seen by the other.
Satoru Kurata
I was captivated by the unsettling atmosphere and the sense of presence carried by the various characters that appeared.
