About the artist and the exhibition

Tomomi Nitta is an oil painter, born in 1978 in Nara, Japan. Before pursuing a career as an artist, Nitta had been studying law at Kyoto University, which led to her profound interest in philosophy. By studying oil painting in art schools in the US and Japan, she cultivated strong artistic skills, which then allowed an artistic outlet for her thoughts. She has since been producing works titled "Infinite Set" as a series. This solo exhibition is presenting the 33rd piece of this series, "Infinite Set 33", and 9 consequent paintings. She philosophically re-contextualizes the mathematical term, "Infinite Set," as an ever-changing microcosm that configures an existence of the each individual and questions the belief of consistency in our own existence as well as the world through her works.With each addition to the "Infinite Set" series, the more perplexing the blurred figures in her paintings become.

Artist's Statement

The image of a single figure standing amid nothingness; what I have been depicting in the “Infinite Set” series is metaphor of how we exist as well as a description of this world. 

The way we live is, in a sense, to embrace an "infinite set" - vast numbers of cells that support our life by continuously repeating births and deaths; senses and perceptions entangled in subjectivity; a mind that is capable of creating rich and endless worlds of emotion and imagination. Trying to grasp the complete picture of such existence is just like trying to understand the whole universe. Thus the belief of any consistency in our own existence and that of the world comes as a profound surprise and mystery to me.

Figures are the fundamental motif to my practice. I am trying to draw closer to the complexities of our own existence, and that of the world we exist in through depicting the solitary figures.

Artist Profile

Nitta was born in 1978 in Nara, graduated with a law degree in 2001 from Kyoto University, and Tama University of the Arts in 2010. Before enrolling in Tama University of the Arts, Nitta had previously studied art in Corcoran College of Art and Design and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She officially launched her artistic career in 2007, and held her first solo exhibition, “Infinite Set 1”, in YUKA TSURUNO GALLERY. She has since been selected to exhibit her work at a group show in Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association, and held a solo exhibition “Infinite Set 3" at Hillyer Art Space (Washington DC). This solo exhibition is her first appearance in Japan after three years abroad.