Seigo Aoki, Spin this world

LOKO GALLERY, Tokyo

Date still to be defined

Due to the Covid-19 emergency the exhibition might be closed to the public until further notice. We invite you to CLICK HERE and check the website of the organizers to find the latest information and updates about the current situation.

“Spin this world,” a solo exhibition by painter Seigo Aoki, who has been active in Japan and abroad since his debut in the 1990s, but this will be his first solo exhibition in the Kanto area in about five years.

In recent years, Aoki has pursued a stoic approach to his work using minimal materials and techniques. They can divide into two series, one with canvas and only three colors of paint, and the other with the same three colors of pencil and paper. The previous has formed by painting a massive series of three geometric shapes: circles (○), triangles (△), and squares (□) using the three primary colors of light: red, green, and blue. In the latter case, on the other hand, he creates a shadowy black image by applying several layers of three-colored pencils to create a work of art.

Using only minimalistic elements have related to painting and even vision, his works may remind one of the theoretically designed paintings, such as　Georges-Pierre Seurat’s pointillism. However, in his oil paintings, he decides a rough image of the picture and then the spot painting one by one and his combination and arrangement of colors and shapes that make up the image. Therefore, his art takes several months to several years to accumulate this tremendous work on a single canvas is a painting. While maintaining a precise harmony as a whole, it shows the randomness of colors and shapes painted by hand and the organicity that can be called “fluctuation” that accompanies the accumulation. In addition to these qualities, Aoki’s work shows a symbiosis of contrasting elements such as light and shadow, presence and absence, and the reversal of figure and earth.

The works in this exhibition incorporate motifs of his immediate acquaintances, images of strangers found on the web, and photographs of historical scenes. The work of creating these external images through an ascetic method of drawing that Aoki has defined and continued may be one of the ways for him to trace the world around him and come into contact with the outside world. We would be happy to show you where Aoki is now as he pursues his paintings with his unique technique.

Images, Courtesy the gallery and the artis