Embodied Perspectives

From 22 March to 3 May 2025 ^, WKM Gallery is delighted to present Embodied Perspectives, a group exhibition featuring six contemporary Japanese painters: Soh Souen, Iori Nagashima, Koji Yamaguchi, Jun Tsunoda, Kohei Yamada, and Momo Yoshino. Though diverse in context and style, ranging from minimal abstraction to detailed figuration, each of these artists share a similar goal: the desire to connect with the physical world around them through the act of painting.

Embodied Perspectives showcases paintings that highlight the body’s visceral experience of the world; both the artist’s, as well as the viewer’s. Iori Nagashima and Soh Souen’s intimate depictions of the human body offer perhaps the most direct interpretation of this idea. Nagashima’s smartphone snapshot-like paintings of casual moments, depicted in muted colours, convey the warm, dull happiness of relationships that carry us through the mundane, while Souen’s feathery pointillist close-ups of lips, ears, and various body parts emit an almost dream-like quality, like fragmented renders of vivid, private memories.

Koji Yamaguchi shares the figurative approach of Nagashima and Souen, but he does not depict other people; rather, he depicts the nature around him, particularly in Kawasaki and Tokyo, from his viewpoint as a skateboarder. The blurred landscapes, as seen from Yamaguchi’s viewpoint as he skates by, may lack people, but we can still feel their presence (abandoned blue construction tarps, flattened shrubbery) and absence (neglected and overgrown weeds, layers of dust and dirt collecting on the untouched tarps). The viewer is also made to feel a sense of movement and speed in their own body, as the painting allows them to vicariously see through Yamaguchi’s eyes.

Jun Tsunoda shares Yamaguchi’s interest in nature, and Nagashima and Souen’s desire for connection to the world. The combination of these two things can describe the motivation for his “Black Plants” series, which are on display in this exhibition. Tsunoda, however, takes a very different visual approach from the others, utilising elements of abstraction to explore his somewhat spiritual relation to nature. Inspired by his move to the countryside of Yamanashi in the late 1980s, Tsunoda employs traditional Japanese lacquer and shikkui (lime plaster) to create “primitive” and graphical depictions of plant life, representing his curiosity in the unique life forces of each plant.

Momo Yoshino and Kohei Yamada take the elements of abstraction in Tsunoda’s works and push them to the next level, almost departing from figuration - but not completely. Yoshino pares down colour and shape to create simple but clever optical illusions, which deceptively appear as three-dimensional reliefs reminiscent of origami, the Japanese art of paper-folding. Yoshino's works heighten the viewer's awareness of their own body and its position in relation to the artwork, creating a dynamic interplay between perception and physicality. Yamada's abstract colour fields evoke a similar effect. The meticulously layered colours, which Yamada describes as a process of "hiding backgrounds," create a sense of depth that draws the viewer in. The result is a spatial experience that brings the viewer back into awareness of their own body - thus bringing the exhibition back full circle.

The distinct styles of each artist, when put together, spotlight the uniqueness of their approaches even as they share similar aims. These six artists not only showcase the rich diversity of contemporary Japanese painting, but also illuminate its promising future.
^ WKM Gallery will have special opening hours during Art Basel Week in Hong Kong, opening daily from 22, 24 - 29 March 2025, 11 am - 8 pm, 23 March 2025, Sunday, 11 am - 7 pm and 30 March 2025, Sunday, 12 – 5 pm.

WKM Gallery 榮幸呈獻群展「Embodied Perspectives」—— 展出六位當代日本畫家的作品，包括ソー・ソウエン (Soh Souen)，長島伊織 (Iori Nagashima)，山口幸士 (Koji Yamaguchi)，角田純 (Jun Tsunoda)，山田康平 (Kohei Yamada) 及吉野もも (Momo Yoshino)。儘管他們的背景與藝術風格各異，涵蓋從極簡抽象到細膩具象等多元表現手法。他們透過繪畫實踐，與自身所處的物質世界建立聯繫，朝向共同的目標出發。展期為 2025 年 3 月 22 日至 5 月 3 日 ^。

本展覽呈現一系列繪畫作品，著重探索身體與外在世界之間的感知互動經驗，不僅涉及藝術家自身的感受，更包含觀者在觀看作品時所喚起的覺察與回應。其中，長島伊織與ソー・ソウエン對人體的細膩描繪，可謂此一概念最直接的詮釋。長島的創作形式近似智能手機隨手拍攝的影像，畫面色調柔和內斂，散發溫煦恬淡的氣息，微妙地映照出人際關係中低調卻真摯的喜悅，正是這種人與人之間的溫情支撐著我們走過平凡無奇的日常時光。相較之下，ソー・ソウエン則運用細緻的點描技法，近距離描繪嘴唇、耳朵等各種身體局部特寫，營造出如夢似幻的視覺氛圍，令人聯想起記憶中那些片段化卻鮮活生動的私密時刻。

山口幸士雖然與長島及ソー・ソウエン同樣採取具象的繪畫取徑，然而其主題卻存在根本性的差異，他並未描繪人物形象，而是從滑板者的視角，呈現自身周遭的物質環境，尤其是川崎與東京的都市景觀。山口的繪畫作品以滑板高速移動時所見的模糊動態視野為特色，畫面中雖無直接呈現人類身影，卻隱約透露出人們曾經存在的痕跡 (如被棄置的藍色施工帆布、遭反覆踐踏壓平的灌木叢)，以及人跡罕至之處所產生的荒涼感 (如雜草叢生的角落，或被棄置的帆布上所累積的塵垢與污漬)。此外，透過山口的作品，觀者亦能產生身體移動與速度感的共鳴，彷彿以藝術家的視角，間接而真實地體驗快速掠過城市風景時的感官感受。

角田純的作品體現出與自然世界之間深厚而緊密的聯繫，其藝術實踐令人聯想到山口探索自然的取向，亦呼應著長島及ソー・ソウエン作品中蘊含的情感共鳴。這種多重感受與思考的交織融合，清晰而鮮明地呈現於他此次展出的《Black Plants》系列。然而，角田在視覺表現方面卻自成一格。他選擇以抽象的美學語言，深入且細膩地探討他與自然世界之間近乎精神性的關係。自 1980 年代末期，角田移居至風景如畫的山梨縣鄉間，深受當地環境的啟發，開始運用日本傳統工藝媒材 —— 漆 (lacquer) 與漆喰 (shikkui，即石灰灰泥)，創作出既原始又富圖像張力的植物形態描繪。他藉由這種藝術手法，表達對每種植物內蘊獨特生命力的深刻好奇，並邀請觀者以細膩、深思的視角，感知這些生命形態所蘊涵的內在美感與活力。

吉野もも與山田康平進一步深化並提升角田作品中的抽象元素，朝向非具象領域探索，同時仍巧妙地保留些許具象的餘韻。吉野細緻地提煉色彩與形式，創造出表面簡潔卻內涵豐富的視覺錯覺效果，令人聯想到日本傳統摺紙藝術 (origami) 的複雜空間感，構圖巧妙地引發觀者對自身身體與空間之間的感知，從而建立起積極且充滿張力的對話。與此呼應的是，山田以抽象的色彩場域處理，營造出類似的感官體驗。他細膩而層次分明的色彩堆疊手法 —— 山田生動地形容為一種「隱藏背景」的過程 —— 營造出一種深邃且富有張力的空間感，吸引觀者沉浸其中，重新喚醒其對自身身體存在的意識，從而形成一次循環往復、扣人心弦的感官旅程，為整個展覽體驗畫完美的句點。

當這群藝術家各自鮮明而獨特的風格並置展出時，不僅彰顯了每位藝術家個人創作方法論的獨一無二性，更凸顯出他們儘管抱持共同的藝術追求，卻展現出截然不同的實踐路徑。這六位藝術家共同呈現了當代日本繪畫所蘊含的豐富多元性，並為其未來的發展前景提供了一道引人深思且充滿希望的視野。
^ WKM Gallery 將於香港巴塞爾藝術展期間提供特別開放時間，2025 年 3 月 22 日，24 日至 29 日，上午 11 時至下午 8 時，2025 年 3 月 23 日，星期日，上午 11 時至下午 7 時及 2025 年 3 月 30 日，星期日，中午 12 時至下午 5 時。

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