Tokyo-based artist Akihiro Hasegawa burst onto the local contemporary art scene with his enchanting, vibrant portraits that reflect an ongoing consideration of pictorial space, composition, and time.
Read MoreIn 2020, Hasegawa commenced his postgraduate studies in the Department of Design at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Through his painting practice, Hasegawa explores the ways in which painterly concerns including time, space, and composition can be rendered. At the age of 10, Hasegawa entered the Buddhist priesthood at Saikyo Temple, Mount Hiei, and in 2019 he completed the Shidokegyo (Four Preliminary Practices). Hasegawa's practice is often read in the context of his commitment to Buddhism – in both its imagery and outlook.
Hasegawa's paintings are distinguishable by their vivid colours. He frequently uses a contradictory colour palette, allowing his figures to pop on the canvas. Hasegawa uses a variety of mediums and substrates, including oil on canvas or acrylic plate. When working on acrylic plate, the artist paints on both sides of the translucent plate so as to generate a subtle three-dimensional effect.
Hasegawa's figures vary in their stylistic depiction, ranging from highly naturalistic portraits to unsettling, cartoon-like figures. Thick lines and neon tones allow ghostly, almost-glowing figures to float into the foreground. These fantastical distortions may reflect the artist's interest in the works of the early 20th-century Austrian Expressionist painter, Egon Schiele.
Hasegawa has produced numerous large-scale public artworks, including live paintings for Tokyo audiences. He has also worked on commercial collaborations, including a promotion for Docomo's car-share app for which he painted a car (2018), and working as art designer for a music video for Japanese singer Ringo Sheena (2019).
Hasegawa has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions.
Solo exhibitions include Yomogi & COMP, √K Contemporary, Tokyo (2022).
Select group exhibitions include Epic Painters Vol. 10: Portraits, THE blank GALLERY, Tokyo (2022); Kuma Exhibition 2022, ANB Tokyo (2022); ALT, MORIO Gallery, Tokyo (2021); DEPARTURE 2020, Daikanyama Tsutaya Books, Tokyo (2020).
Akihiro Hasegawa's Instagram can be found here.
Rachel Kubrick | Ocula | 2022
