Born in 1995 in Tokyo, Japan, Ayumu Yamamoto received both her BFA and MFA in oil painting from Musashino Art University in 2018 and 2020, respectively. The human figure, as well as various flora and fauna are recurring motifs in the artist’s pictorial universe. Yamamoto’s paintings seem to depict jaunty and blissful moments, such as lovers spending time together amidst lush greenery, yet a myriad of contradictory emotions and stories are prevalent in her work, exuding a somber mood. Palpable tensions are created within the frame through the coexistence of opposing elements: intimacy and aloofness, light and shadow, balance and instability. Hovering between representation and abstraction, Yamamoto attempts to depict the real world and its different facets through her unpredictable application of oil paint.

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