Mitsunari Kana solo exhibition "semi-fiction"
shimokitazawaartsDecember 13 - 24, 2023
1-7pm
Closed on Mon and Tue.
*Opening reception：Dec. 13, 6-8pm
Anyone can participate in the opening reception.
Shimokitazawa Arts is pleased to present solo exhibition "semi-fiction" by Mitsunari Kana. Mitsunari Kana was born in Yamaguchi pref. She worked in apparel after graduating from fashion school. But she couldn't give up on painting and entered Musashino Art University, College of Art and Design, Department of Oil Painting, Tokyo in 2019 and graduated in 2023. She is currently in graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Painting, Tokyo. She is an up-and-coming artist who is attracting attention for her outstanding realistic painting.
When you first see Mitsunari Kanna's work, the first thing that strikes you is her painting ability. The motifs are mainly of women, and the refined skill that conveys the texture of their skin and hair, the temperature, and the coldness of the dripping water is something to behold. While attending Musashino Art University, Mitsunari focused on copying classical Italian paintings etc. for about a year and a half, dramatically improving her technical skills.
Using the expression skill, Mitsunari expressed her own themes, the differences in perception regarding existence and matters, and the fluctuations in the choices that lead to that point. Specifically, it is based on the fact that when Mitsunari was young, she was informed of certain facts about her birth, which caused her perception to change, and that the impact she received at that time continues to this day. In order to express the fluctuation between fact and fiction, reality and unreality, Mitsunari's creations begin with acting out the actions performed in daily life. The performance is filmed several times and stitched together on a computer. Taking these "semi-fictional" images, which can be called "drawings," as a motif, Mitsunari's realistic paintings are the result of careful layering. The layers used in creating paintings overlap with everyday events and their perceptions, and the resulting work exists like reality itself, with the lower layers continuing to influence the upper layers.
This exhibition is her first solo exhibition after entering graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts, and it will be a show in which she reconsiders her own expression. Please take a close look at each piece, including the profound texture created by the overlapping layers of paint, the expression of skin that shines from within, and the distortion of space. Then, try to imagine the meaning and scene of the things painted. You are sure to enjoy the world of Mitsunari's works even more deeply.
Artist Statement
When I see a glass bottle lying on the road, I think about how many choices were made before this bottle appeared here, and I go back through all the events I can think of. It seems that glass fragments have been discovered in ancient Egyptian ruins dating back to around 2000 BC. Does this mean that the fate tied to this discarded glass bottle begins at least 4,000 years ago? This piece of glass, which must have been planned by someone and produced in large quantities, reflects the sunlight and casts a green light on the block wall. Covered in dirt, it doesn't look like anything that used to be on display at the store, but there's no way to be sure.
When I was young, something happened that changed my perception of my birth. This experience is at the root of my work. I began to create paintings with an interest in the differences in perception of existence and events, and the fluctuations in the choices that are made to arrive at that point. The creation of these paintings begins with me acting out and filming the movements of daily life. By extracting several frames from the video, stitching them together on a PC, and repeatedly adding to them and composing them, a semi-fiction is created that condenses events in different chronological order and perspective. During that work, I creates an unspecified presence by removing the personal characteristics of the subject. Repainting thin layers of depicting on the canvas is an important process that brings semi-fiction back into the real world and gives it mass. The way fiction becomes more realistic with each layer is similar to how even an uncertain memory becomes sublimated into fact through repeated rumination. By going through this process, I would like to bring phenomena that are both fact and fiction that an individual has touched into existence in the form of a painting with a certain mass. I hope that through my work, I can be involved in the diverse memories of the world, even if just for a moment.
Mitsunari Kana
Born in Yamaguchi pref. Japan
Worked in apparel after graduating from fashion school.
2019 entered Musashino Art University, College of Art and Design, Department of Oil Painting, Tokyo
2023 BFA, Musashino Art University, College of Art and Design, Department of Oil Painting, Tokyo
entered graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Painting, Tokyo
favorite artists：Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Henri Julien Félix Rousseau, Kawase Hasui
Selected exhibition
2023
Geisai2023 "Oil Technique and Material Lab", Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
solo exhibition "projection", Ittoan gallery, Tokyo
"Joint Graduation Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo" The National Art Center, Tokyo
"2022 Graduation/Completion Works Exhibition" Musashino Art University, Tokyo
2022
"Young artist small works exhibition selected by Yamamoto Fuyuhiko" Gallery Ekouan, Tokyo
"Polaris Exhibition"Gallery ARK, Yokohama, Kanagawa pref.
2021
"Musashino Art University, oil painting department competition" Musashino Art University, Tokyo
"MOGA2021" Shibata Etsuko Gallery, Tokyo
"Portrait Exhibition" Ittoan gallery, Tokyo
Hans Dubon Film Festival "Young☆Hans Dubon Exhibition" EARH+Gallery, Tokyo
"MOGA2021" GALLERY ESSE, Sapporo, Hokkaido
2020
"NUDE Exhibition in Akasaka" Bar Yamazaki Bunko, Tokyo
"Moonlight Serenade" Galerie La, Tokyo
Exchange Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo "Small Works Exhibition" Galerie La, Tokyo
2019
"Micro Art Festival" THE MICRO MUSEUM Higashi-Nihonbashi, Tokyo
Exchange Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo 2019 "NEW AGE" Ginza Yokyo Hall, Tokyo
Award／Scholarship
2023
Kamiyama Foundation Art Support Programme 10th scholarship student
2022
Musashino Art University, Alumni Association Scholarship Student
2021
"Musashino Art University, oil painting department competition" Otani Tarafu Award, Kumazawa Mikiko Award, Audience Award, Musashino Art University, Tokyo
2019
Exchange Exhibition of 5 Art Universities in Tokyo 2019 "NEW AGE" Marurzen Award, Ginza Yokyo Hall, Tokyo
