Softly Distance

Tomokazu Matsuyama

Eastern and Western art history and pop culture collide in Tomokazu Matsuyama’s fantastical paintings, which explore themes of globalization and national identity in the age of the internet. The artist, who grew up between Japan and America, loads his large-scale canvases (sometimes irregularly shaped or divided into panels) with references to his bicultural background: He has taken inspiration from Pop art and manga, cowboys and samurai, graffiti and the Meiji era, Abstract Expressionism and woodblock printing. Matsuyama imbues his energetic scenes with a playful, high-octane color palette. The compositions often blur the boundaries between domestic interiors and the natural world. Matsuyama received his MFA from Pratt Institute in 2004. Since then, he has exhibited in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, among other cities. Matsuyama has completed a number of public art commissions, producing towering sculptures and murals around the world.