KAITO Itsuki’s Vivid Dreamscapes at MAMOTH

In her debut solo exhibition at MAMOTH in London, KAITO Itsuki merges the surreal and figurative to create vivid dreamscapes.

Itsuki’s sensuous use of colour exemplifies her deft manipulation of contrasting palettes such as lurid blues and cotton-candy pinks. Featuring flat planes of colour juxtaposed with toned segments of canvas, Itsuki’s compositions are thoughtful, visual narratives executed with a dark flair.

Igniting a curiosity for pushing against cultural and social norms, the Japanese artist’s paintings give form to familiar objects and suspend them in an imagined and peculiar landscape.

In The monopolistic sweet spots (Effects of stimulates) (2022), intimidating spikes jut out from a floating heart that hovers above pastel purple veins and an electric blue limb. While in Tight intelligence (Three tubes) (2022), buckles and chains restrain a human figure standing before a doorway that playfully retreats from onlookers’ point of view.

Utopian and dystopian worlds play an important role in Itsuki’s paintings, exemplified in her first major solo exhibition Blacken (14 May–3 July 2022) at the Hive Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing earlier this year. Each of Itsuki’s canvases are home to unearthly visions which transport viewers to a bizarre world that transgresses the taboo.

Itsuki is an artist whose fresh approach to a tired subject is something to behold. She appears to have the ambition and support of a dynamic gallery to inspire her creativity to know no bounds.

The exhibition runs until 14 January 2023.

Main image: Kaito Ituski, The monopolistic sweet spots (Effects of stimulates) (2022). 180 x 160 cm. Oil and charcoal on canvas. Exhibition view: Kaito Itsuki: The Monopolistic Sweet Spots, MAMOTH, London (7 December 2022–14 January 2023). Courtesy the artist and MAMOTH, London.