ARTDYNE is pleased to present Yoshiyuki Umehara’s solo exhibition “Mono-to Watashi” from April 20 (Sat) to May 12 (Sun), 2024.

Yoshiyuki Umehara, born in 1997, graduated from Tama Art University in 2020 with a major in oil painting, and is one of the hottest young artists based in Chiba Prefecture.

Umehara uses a painting knife to apply layers of paint to a primed canvas, creating a massive surface that makes the viewer aware of the painting’s existence as a material. The borders and layers, which are hardly smooth, convey the materiality of the paint even more directly, appealing to us with the allure of the raw mass of the painting.

Umehara’s words, “I paint faces that emerge spontaneously from things and landscapes,” strongly suggest his deep attachment to the motifs and his warm eye, as well as the peculiar way he perceives “things”.

In this exhibition, 11 of his latest works will be on display and for sale. We sincerely hope that you will take this opportunity to view and appreciate them.

Artist Statement

I still treasure a small plaster stone I made when I was in high school. It is in my studio, and looking at it reminds me of the many things I have done over the past ten years. The layers of time and memories have created an attachment to the stone and its presence.

I paint the same image several times on a single canvas. By doing so, I am not trying to recreate the time and memories that have been layered on the motif, but rather to build a new relationship between the “painting (object)” and “I” through this process.

Yoshiyuki Umehara