Yoshio Kitayama has been creating large-scale paintings made with ink on traditional Japanese washi paper since the 1980s. These are mainly comprised of two series. One of these, the “icon” series, are pictoral depictions of enlarged human figures drawn from smaller clay sculptures prepared in advance. The other “universe” works reflect the artist’s unique perception of the world. Both can be considered explorations of figure and ground through the practice of painting.
This exhibition was conceived as a presentation of Kitayama’s new works focusing specifically on the “universe” series. Although these pieces initially featured relatively figurative objects such as planets and galaxies, in recent years, they have evolved into amassments of innumerable circles that collectively span entire visible surfaces. Much in the same way our universe exists through the myriad meetings among atoms and molecules, Kitayama’s paintings are made of infinitesimal circles coming together to form a single heaving and surging vision of life. He describes his works not as abstractions in the traditional sense, but rather as representations of the universe approached through the lens of quantum theory.
