SOICHIRO TOMIOKA

In honour of the 100th anniversary of the painter’s birth, the special exhibition will be held in the contrasting, industrial interiors of √K Contemporary’s basement, Space √K.

On the Exhibition

Soichiro Tomioka was born and raised in Niigata prefecture’s snow-filled terrain. Surrounded by snow since his childhood, Tomioka continued to paint snow, a symbol of his earliest memories, throughout his career. Influenced by his love and knowledge of snow, Tomioka spent many years developing his very own white paint. Unique in colour and texture, and resistant to discolouration and cracks. In turn, the snowscapes Tomioka rendered with this paint gave form to the world of white he witnessed and tried to convey throughout his career.

Completely self-taught, Tomioka was never formally trained as a painter. Since receiving the New Art Society Award at the Shin-seisaku Exhibition in 1926, the artist devoted his career to painting which, in turn, led to his receiving of the Museum of Modern Art at the 7th Sao Paulo International Art Biennial of 1963. Gaining great traction, both, locally and internationally, the artist retired from his job at the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation in 1965 and moved to New York. For the next 7 years, Tomioka based himself in New York as he established a strong reputation through his participation in numerous exhibitions held at renowned institutions, from MoMA’s The New Japanese Painting and Sculpture (1966–1967) to group shows held at Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris and Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. However, due to the increasing threat of the Vietnam War and a personal injury, Tomioka returned to Japan the following year to scout for various Japanese snowscapes to paint. Through an ambitious utilisation of helicopters and Cessna aircraft, Tomioka would capture the various bird’s eye views of snow-covered mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, seas, and forests. Moving the hearts of many, Tomioka’s nostalgic works were displayed in then-current Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa’s official residence and on government planes. Nevertheless, much of Tomoioka’s legacy remains hidden in art history’s ever-increasing past. By placing Tomioka in the spotlight, this exhibition strives to drive viewers to address and re-evaluate his works.

Reminding viewers of, both, humanity’s place within nature and ensuing feelings of awe, Tomioka’s bird-eye works render perspectives that present views of natural landscapes that are seen, not from the perspective of humans, but of something larger. Through these humbling, omniscient scenes, these works present the notion that humanity resides in a world of unforeseen phenomena that transcends human comprehension, exists within nature’s embrace, and is alive for just a moment within the eternal passage of time.

In honour of the 100th year since the artist’s birth, we hope you take this opportunity to enjoy the winter of 2022 and 2023 together with Tomioka’s works.