Tokyo, Japan – WAITINGROOM is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Suzuka Toyoda “catch a glimpse” through Sep. 18th to Oct. 10th, 2021. Suzuka Toyoda depicts people and situations that she glimpsed in a moment of everyday life. The scenes depicted are partly hidden, partly extracted, and sometimes in ways that the artist did not intend, giving them a strange intimacy even though they are part of someone else’s story. By modifying a scene that once existed in reality and turning it into a painting, it seems as if the artist is attempting to depict emotions, atmosphere, and a sense of existence, which are difficult to capture, but which humans certainly possess in an ambiguous way. In this exhibition, we will present about 10 paintings newly created by Toyoda this year. This will be the first solo exhibition of Suzuka Toyoda at WAITINGROOM, who just completed her graduate studies at Tokyo University of the Arts this spring.
“Equilibrium”, 2021, oil and charcoal on canvas, 445 x 605 mm
About the artist, Suzuka Toyoda
Born in 1996 in Mie. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts with the Master’s degree, oil painting in 2021. Currently lives and works in Ibaraki. Her recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition “The Other Day” (2021, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo), group exhibition “Crossing – from now on-” (2021, bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo), group exhibition “the sight of the stars makes me dream” (2021, SCÈNE, Tokyo), group exhibition “Collectors’ Collective vol.4 Osaka” (2021, TEZUKAYAMA Gallery, Osaka), group exhibition “Shape of Gaze” (2020, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo). Although she is a very young artist born in 1996, her works are attracting a great number of audiences.
Artist Statement
Based on people and things I see in my daily life, or photographic images I see on SNS, I take in specific images from reality and gradually transform them into paintings by layering lines, hiding them, and mixing emotions.
Most of the time when I create my works, paintings have the initiative, not me, so I let the unintended movements and happenings on the canvas.
When I cut out a scene of an event that I caught a glimpse of in my life, the fact that the person or thing existed and the feeling that something happened remains there.
Sometimes I doubt what I have seen, but I may be wandering in search of ambiguous comfort.
Suzuka Toyoda
left: “The Sea of Mosques”, oil and charcoal on canvas, 408 x 530 mm
right: “Cloudy”, oil and charcoal on canvas, 335 x 530 mm
The presence of ambiguous objects drifting across the canvas
A human face partially painted. Something that is indistinguishable from a simplistic shadow or an animal. What Suzuka Toyoda depicts in her painting is a scene or people, but when we try to clearly describe the situation, we feel a little unsure. It’s a little like the vague images that come to mind when you try to remember a memory or a scene from a movie you saw once upon a time.
Toyoda is inspired by “people and things she sees in her daily life, and photographic images she sees on SNS,” and uses them as motifs for her paintings. However, whether it is an ordinary situation that she actually saw or photographed, or an image that she found in a virtual world such as the Internet, she treats both of them equally as something that she witnessed in her own daily life and uses them as motifs. She takes an image that catches her eye and “makes it into a painting” by passing it through her own filter, layering lines and hiding details, while keeping the composition intact.
The scenes that drifted through the virtual space and her memories belonged to others, and sometimes even the artist herself did not directly witness the situation. However, each of her works, painted as if she was wandering around on the canvas, sometimes “letting things happen,” evokes a strange intimacy. Each situation has its own narrative, and the viewer can imagine the relationship between the motifs, the circumstances surrounding them, and the subtle feelings of mixed emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. It is very difficult to say exactly what they are, but it can be said that they are a strange ambiguity that humans certainly possess. In this world where we can find some clear answers by searching the Internet, this strange ambiguity that Toyoda expresses in her paintings sometimes stands out and appeals to our senses.
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Suzuka Toyoda
1996 Born in Mie, Japan
Currently lives and works in Ibaraki
EDUCATION
2021 Tokyo University of the Arts, Master’s degree, Oil Painting
2019 Kyoto University of Art and Design, Bachelor’s degree, Oil Painting
SOLO EXHIBITION
2021
Catch a Glimpse, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo
The Other Day, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Crossing – from now on -, bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo
the sight of the stars makes me dream, SCÈNE, Tokyo
Collectors’ Collective vol.4 Osaka, TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka
2020
Shape of Gaze, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo
