ART SG 2024

Yutaka Aoki uses acrylic paint to create abstract works with substantial impasto to study light and its organic, three-dimensional qualities. Aoki observes light as a multi-faceted element that grants knowledge of the world and is also an indicator of time. His paintings exist between two- and three-dimensionality, and respond not only to materials and production processes, but also to specific elements in their environment, including the relationship with the audienceʼs gaze, the passage of time, and the conditions of the exhibition space.

Drawing on aesthetic and formal developments from minimalism and interactive painting, his practice is often inspired by small moments in daily life, such as an encounter with a mitobari (a piece of white cloth demarcating a shrine entrance) at Ise Shrine, or an emotional reaction experienced when walking down a staircase next to a moss garden. For Aoki these environments provide moments of direct insight into the metaphysical existence of painting that he translates into his work by focusing on light, vision being the primary perceptive tool used to register the existence of a painting.

Accordingly, “boundaries” and “movement” themes have been present in his work, and in his recent paintings he has been experimenting with how these are expressed on the canvas. This has led to the mixing, the pushing back and forth, of paint over time, which creates substantial impasto and evocative textures, while reflecting on relationships between presence and shadow, subject and viewer. One of Aokiʼs interests is the dynamic bilateral communication that takes place between painting and viewer when they confront each other. The way one views a painting can be influenced by fields of vision defined by the space, the way one moves in front of a painting, or by spatial relationships in a given environment. Even when fixed, a painting can appear in myriad ways. Conversely, viewers are able to physically relocate a painting in an attempt to manipulate its appearance.

Aoki demonstrates how scenery changes according to perspective, and suggests that it is not the symbolic value of a particular image, but rather the materiality of media and the production process themselves that compose a painting. His creation process thereby expands paintingʼs field of vision. In his paintings, the volume of paint is deliberately exaggerated in order to render visible this play with perception, and light imbues his work with an intrinsic richness, providing a visual experience that awakens the natural human senses desensitized by our increasingly digital lives.

This presentation for ART SG 2024 will consist of approximately twenty works.