HIROSHI SUGITO

Sugito is known for his ethereal paintings, which draw from Nihon-ga, the Japanese tradition in which he first trained. Defined by layers of pigment and a hazy, delicate palette with acidic overtones, his paintings draw in their environment, from the artist’s gestures to the weather and daily studio processes, becoming absorptive vessels of the picture’s outside. His compositions often feature recurring motifs and shapes that hint toward landscapes or still lifes, inhabited by floating forms reminiscent of sails and canoes, houses, skewed buildings, and drapery.

Some works produced especially for the exhibition are large-scale paintings on paper strips. Curtain-like elements around the frame mark a theatrical setting for the artist’s manipulation of light and airy transparency, with a diaphanous, fluttering quality. In smaller paintings, such as Untitled(2025), Sugito depicts rays and beams of colour that blend in geometric patterns, becoming a luminous architecture of lines and crossing sections.

Whether decidedly abstract or spotted with recognisable images, the artist’s surfaces are indefinite and fluctuating realms that slowly unfold before the viewer.

Hiroshi Sugito has works in the permanent collections at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA; Saatchi Collection, London; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and The Taguchi Art Collection.