PAST EXHIBITION

「Ut0p1a」

Date

7.4(Sat) 〜 7.24(Sun)
※ Open on Wednesday 〜 Saturday,Last Sunday

*Please wear a mask, take your temperature and disinfect yourself when you visit the venue.

*Please note that admission may be restricted depending on the congestion of the venue. Thank you for understanding in advance that you may be required to stand in line.

*Please note that the exhibition period and opening hours may be subject to change depending on the situation. Any changes will be announced on the gallery website and Instagram.

Open

13:00-19:00

CALM & PUNK GALLERY is pleased to present Ut0p1a by Shun Okada, from 8/6 (Sat) to 8/28 (Sun). Born in 1992, Okada is an oil painter whose main subject matter is NES game console screens, and bugs within these games. Okada has had one solo exhibition each year since 2019, this being his fourth. The exhibition will consist of a group of new works that attempt to connect different screens and multiple canvases into a single painting, in addition to Sandstorm, one of Okada’s most iconic works.

In the overlap between the artist’s own experiences, and research into the art of painting, Okada attempts to link with the history of painting, a significant and ambitious step in his career.

Artist Statement

When I first saw images of bugs in NES games, I immediately and intuitively decided to put them on canvas. For me, it was my first experience with bugs, and they appeared to me just like a finished painting. However, the more I tried to capture the image, the more it appeared as though something was missing from the image.

In order to fill in this gap, I’ve tried various things. I’ve tried smashing it with fresh paint, flipping the canvas upside-down, shifting the position of the canvas, and various actions, in the process confusing myself. By doing so, unconsciously, all of the pictorial manipulations that I had been performing in the process of depicting the painting, were both revealed and negated.

Even in daily life, human beings encounter abrupt failures and incidents. When this occurs, we are thrown into a state of confusion, back and forth, unable to make clear decisions. We then recover, gain a new basis for our future decision-making, and return to our daily lives. Perhaps my work is similar to entering into the interstices of such a moment. I feel a sensation similar to that of a bug lurking in the everyday, which appears at a moment’s notice. Something similar to an illusion, that appears with a glimmer. I think so every time I check it. I always arrive at this feeling.

CV
1992 Born in Ibaraki Prefecture
2017 Graduated from Tama Art University with MFA
2016 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in Fine Art, major in Painting
Solo Exhibition
2019 「retrojective」(Tav gallery)
2020 「砂嵐」(commune gallery)
2021「under/stand」(commune gallery)

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/oka_un/」
WEB
https://shunshon.tumblr.com/