Kuo Jun You solo exhibition "Red Clothing upon the Grass"
shimokitazawaartsBorn in Nantou, Taiwan in 1998. Withdrew from the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts. This marks Kuo Jun You’s first exhibition in Japan.
February 28 - March 15, 2026
1-7 pm
Closed on Mon, Tue and Wed.
Shimokitazawa Arts is pleased to present Kuo Jun You: Red Clothing on the Grass, a solo exhibition by the artist.
Born in Nantou, Taiwan in 1998, Kuo Jun You studied in the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan University of Arts before leaving the program. He is currently based in Taipei, where he continues his artistic practice.
Kuo’s work begins with subtle feelings of discomfort discovered in everyday life. From these moments, he constructs new landscapes imbued with humor, eeriness, and a sense of desolation. In recent years, he has focused on a deeper exploration of the human condition. Figures burdened with fatigue, emptiness, and sorrow are cast into fragments of daily life, which he renders as though staging scenes within a small theater.
Kuo Jun You’s paintings gently accompany solitude, inviting viewers to reflect upon their own experiences and stirring a wide range of personal associations and imaginings.
Artist Statement
Through painting, I seek to capture the strange sensations embedded in everyday life. They may arise from a passing landscape, a single screenshot, or a solitary line of text. By reconstructing these fragments, I aim to endow the most ordinary scenes with new expressions and unexpected nuances.
I am not attempting to convey grand artistic themes; rather, I simply wish to plant small jokes within the fabric of daily life. In this sense, my practice is also a personal response to the tedium of reality—an attempt to gently subvert it from within.
A researcher continues observing within a confined space, imagining the universe beyond the walls.
At the Taipei Astronomical Museum, I noticed a small celestial globe placed beside a restroom.
Between this simplified representation of cosmic knowledge and the slightly cold atmosphere of the space, there was an indescribable sense of dissonance.
During my university years, I enjoyed the time I spent in the drawing studio.
The smell of turpentine mingled with charcoal dust in the air, and large plaster casts stood in rows.
It was a space well suited for drifting into vague thoughts.
Sometimes, I would imagine my own head sprouting from the neck of the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
I think that a painter’s self-portrait is a gathering of fragments of the artist’s mind.
In this work, I depict a painter working alone at night.
It captures a fleeting moment when an unconscious, instinctive side of the self briefly reveals itself.
In a company, a supervisor gives “water” to a subordinate.
It can also be seen as a kind of reward.
The employee who receives the water grows like a plant, and eventually becomes someone who gives water to others.
In this work, I depict this cycle within an organization in a slightly allegorical way.
Scholars add the features of a herbivorous dinosaur onto the body of a carnivorous one.
They attempt to redefine its identity, yet they themselves may also be beings defined by others.
A person continues picking lemons endlessly under the command of an employer.
After a lifetime spent harvesting lemons, even their body gradually begins to resemble a lemon.
In this work, I reflected on the suffocating feeling of being confined within a fixed role or framework.
Although the bushes have caught fire, someone tries to cut them with a large pair of gardening shears.
When making decisions, I sometimes find myself choosing unnecessarily roundabout methods.
Realizing this became the starting point for this work.
Kuo Jun You (郭俊佑)
Born 1998, Nantou, Taiwan
Studied in the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts (left before graduation)
Currently based in Taipei
Favorite Artists:
Kobayashi Masato ,Funakoshi Katsura, Matsumoto Shunsuke ,Kamoi Rei ,Nara Yoshitomo , Kanda Nissho , Edward Hopper, René Magritte, Anselm Kiefer
At each stage of my life, my vision of the future has shifted dramatically. While I can only move forward step by step, one thing remains constant: I continue to paint.
Painting is like a companion to me. Through countless dialogues and interactions with my works, each piece is born. In this process, I feel that my own life gradually moves toward a kind of completion. I hope to keep painting until the day my breath stops.
solo exhibitions
2024 “A Moment to Breathe”, Piaopiao Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2022 “Twenty-Three”, Piaopiao Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2019 “The Coward”, Kuo Mu-Sheng Cultural and Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
group exhibitions
2025
“Traveling with Hazy Humid Dayid to Jinguashi – Youth on the Islands”, Taipower Jinshui Base, New Taipei, Taiwan
“The time has come”, Ke yi Gallery, Hefei, China
2024
“The Metamorphosis”, Yiri Art, Taipei, Taiwan
“Absurd Kitchen”, Piaopiao Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
“Ways to Fix Broken Images”, PTT Space, Taipei, Taiwan
2021
“Starfruit School”, Apollo Ar Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Awards
2023 1st Place, Oil Painting, 112th National Taiwan University of Arts Faculty & Student Art Exhibition
2022 1st Place, Oil Painting, 111th National Taiwan University of Arts Faculty & Student Art Exhibition
2021 2nd Place, Paper Works, 110th National Taiwan University of Arts Faculty & Student Art Exhibition
