Hisamatsu Tomoko：Drawings - Days in This City
shimokitazawaartsJune 24 - July 5, 2026
1-7 pm
Closed on Mon and Tue
Shimokitazawa Arts is pleased to present a solo exhibition, Hisamatsu Tomoko : Drawings – Everyday Life in This City.
Hisamatsu was born in Mie, completed her MA in Japanese Painting at Tohoku University of Art and Design, and is currently based in Saitama. She has steadily built an impressive career, including being selected for VOCA 2026, receiving the Grants for Overseas Study by Young Artists from the POLA Art Foundation (2022), and winning the Toshiko Okamoto Prize at the 18th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art.
Traveling between various regions, Hisamatsu researches local histories and cultures, engages with people, enjoys the food of each place, and creates paintings and drawings infused with the atmosphere of her surroundings and a gentle sense of humor. Her works depict landscapes that seem somehow familiar, people who could be found anywhere, and everyday objects we recognize from our own lives. Viewed from a respectful distance, these subjects are rendered with warmth and affection, while also hinting at the quiet melancholy woven into daily existence.
Her small watercolor drawings shimmer with the fleeting moments of everyday life—the quiet exertions and sorrows, as well as those brief instances when the heart unexpectedly lifts with joy.
We invite you to experience Hisamatsu's distinctive world, presented through an installation of numerous postcard-sized drawings full of tenderness for the everyday, alongside small- and medium-scale canvas works.
Artist Statement
For my first solo exhibition in Shimokitazawa—a neighborhood where urban life and creative expression intersect—I present a selection of drawings created through my daily experiences in Tokyo and its surrounding areas.
This year marks six years since I moved from the Tohoku region to a residential area in Saitama. Over that time, urban life has settled into my body and rhythms. What continues to move me are the precious moments of sharing drinks with people close to me, and the excitement of new encounters found through traveling the ever-changing city by train.
I always carry postcard-sized paper, a pen, and watercolor. With these simple tools, I draw on site, responding to the joyful and beautiful moments I discover amid the flow of everyday life, and taking a fresh look at familiar scenes that might otherwise go unnoticed. The world is not made up only of good things. Even so, I want these small drawings to look gently upon our daily lives and to suggest that, despite everything, perhaps they are still not so bad.
Hisamatsu Tomoko
Hisamatsu Tomoko is a painter born in Mie, Japan, and currently based in Saitama. She completed her MA in Japanese Painting at Tohoku University of Art and Design, Yamagata. Moving between places, she creates figurative paintings and drawings informed by research into the culture and history of each location, and by her personal encounters with local communities. Recent exhibitions include VOCA 2026 (2026, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo), the solo exhibition Geographical Conditions and Life (2025, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo), and Shin Japanese Painting: Revolutionary Nihonga (2023, POLA Museum of Art, Kanagawa), among others.
Upcoming Exhibition
Aizu Sake Barrel Paintings 2026, Fukushima Museum, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, August 29 – November 1, 2026
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Geographical Conditions and Life, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo
2024
Places and People, Trine Gallery, Tokyo
2018
ARKO 2018: Tomoko Hisamatsu, Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama
2014
Kitakata Sake Barrel Paintings, etc., Shinjuku Ophthalmologist Gallery, Tokyo
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
VOCA 2026, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo
2025
Aoi the Gallerist & Leila the Villainess: A Glamorous Contract for a Second Life, TAV GALLERY, Tokyo
Lingua Franca, Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, Tokyo
Life Without Art, Nito, Tokyo
2024
Sake Brewing in Fukushima: Brewing Sake, Brewing Harmony, Fukushima Museum, Fukushima
Fellow Travelers of the Canvas: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata
2023
Shin Japanese Painting: Revolutionary Nihonga, POLA Museum of Art, Kanagawa
Awards and Grants
2022
The Grants for Overseas Study by Young Artists, POLA Art Foundation (New York 2022-2023)
2018
The 32nd scholarship student, Holbein Scholarship
2015
Toshiko Okamoto Prize, The 18th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art
Encouragement Prize, The 7th Koji Kinutani Award
2014
The 24th scholarship student, Sato International Cultural Scholarship Foundation
Public Collections
Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Tokyo, Japan
Ohara Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Yamagata city, Japan
