Carrying on her practice upon graduating Tama Art University, Tomona Matsukawa’s photographic paintings usually depict intimate belongings of women, particularly those close to her age. Although her paintings are photo realistic, they are distorted reflections of reality as the malformations of the objects she paints are selectively exaggerated. Old red stilettos with grazed heels and salmon pink dresses silently sunk to the floor: the absence of its owners and its hackneyed state evoke emblematic struggles of women on both a personal and societal level in the 21st century. The unfixed damages, suggested carelessness, and deformities of the objects thus are a symbolic rebellion, an empowerment of women against traditionally assigned female qualities. The titles assigned to the pieces often evoke a touch of moral ambiguity, an unfiltered stream of thought, all of which were extracted from multiple interviews the artist had conducted with various female subjects. In her pieces, Matsukawa thus captures the raw intricacies of human relations from a female perspective.

About the exhibition

They (the women) constructed beautiful masks, however, are by no means perfect. Amongst all the glamour of their city lives filled with people, their secretly hidden loneliness and impatience, insecurities and jealousy all surfaced through continual interviews. And these thoughts are not merely of an individual, but the subconsciousience and emotions of every person living behind beautiful armors.

Matsukawa Tomona

YUKA TSURUNO GALLERY will present its latest solo exhibition after approximately 3 years, presenting Matsukawa's newest large scale paintings based on the interviews of multiple women living in Tokyo. Matsukawa’s has developed significant artistic maturity resulting in refined techniques and use of materials.

Artist Profile

Tomona Matsukawa was born in 1987 in Aichi, Japan, and graduated Tama Art University 2011 having specialized in oil painting. Currently based in Tokyo, her works have been chosen to be exhibited in The Ueno Royal Mori Museum Awards exhibit (2010, The Ueno Royal Mori Museum, Tokyo), Toyota Art Exhibit (2010, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi), The Shell Artist Selection (2013, and The National Art Center- Tokyo, Tokyo), and We, Who Can’t Read Between the Lines (CAPSULE gallery, Tokyo). Furthermore, she has been awarded the Holbein Scholarship (2010) and the Fukusawa Ichirou Remembrane Prize (2010). In 2015 she is scheduled to be featured in the Artists Meet Kurashiki project, sponsored by Ohara Museum of Art. She is a highly anticipated emerging artist.