Tokyo, Japan – WAITINGROOM is pleased to announce Saya OKUBO Solo Exhibition, “a doubtful reply”, through February 24th to March 25th. OKUBO just finished her master at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2017 and it is the artist’s first solo exhibition. She talks about her art-making as “an act of exploring the existence of things and human being in the flat space” and creates paintings coexisted both separated elements which are symbolic image represented by outlines and undulation of phenomenal image with materiality. In this exhibition, there will be 14 brand new paintings in different sizes

Born in 1992 in Fukuoka, currently lives and works in Kyoto. Graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design with the Master’s degree in 2017. Her recent exhibitions include a group exhibition “Art Students Exhibition 2017” (2017, SEZON ART GALLERY, Tokyo), group exhibition “movement 2016 – 1st movement -“ (2016, ARTZONE, Kyoto), group exhibition “HERE I AM KUAD×TUNA Exchange Exhibition” (2015, Na paid Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan), group exhibition “HOP2015” (2015, Galerie Aube, Kyoto). Even if she is a very young and flesh talent who hasn’t had many exhibitions yet, her work has been brought to attention when she received the Masami Shiraishi Award at the “4th CAF Award” exhibition (2017, Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo) in fall 2017.

Even if attempts of all sorts have been done and it has already been many years since people said “the painting is dead”, painting is still a category with new possibility and there are still lots of painters trying new approaches. Saya OKUBO who was born in 1990s is also one of the challenging painters who choose the oldest category, painting, with lots of possibilities in this contemporary time where everything can be art.

OKUBO deals with painting as an ambiguous matter that can be both solid and flat and creates her painting mixing with outlines as the ultimate flat expression and abstracted image done by the materiality of the paints. Her lines sometime attempt to erase the motif and she also seems to paint over on the previous image. It looks like an act of exposing all the layers that can be existed in the painting where there might be hidden images in hidden layers as the painter can paints over it. “To let the impression appearing before recognition and its symbolic meaning coexist in the flat space with equal value. Then, to make a painting as a place where different layers combine, change and transform. These are the acts of exploring a singularity that turns a meaningless matter into special thing, and removes names from everything.” OKUBO says. Most of her subject is mainly human figure and it is a very important element for her to search the existence through her expressions.

Today, “Flat space” is not only on a paper and canvas where we can tough, but also the displays of monitors, smartphone, and tablets and additionally the world appearing in those displays. OKUBO says that “we live in the society surrounded by infinite number of displays. We sometimes confuse our reality with flat space. We might feel as if it had been experienced but it is just a phenomenon in this shallow space. Moreover, we might feel that things and people we meet in our everyday life are to be thin. Our perception keeps wavering between a flat space and an object”. What can we perceive from painting after our perception has been changed dramatically? OKUBO is painting as an act of searching this question.

His drawing drawing, 2017, acrylic and oil on wood panel, 1829 x 1329 mm
(The 4th CAF Award, Masami Shiraishi Award)