Sato Erika & Fukuhara Yuta duo show "SPOT"
shimokitazawaartsJuly 26 - August 11, 2025
1-7 pm
Closed on Mon, Tue and Wed.
*open on Aug. 11
*opening reception：July 26, 5-7pm
*Anyone can participate in the reception.
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Shimokitazawa Arts is pleased to announce a duo show "SPOT" by Sato Erika and Fukuhara Yuta. Sato Erika and Fukuhara Yuta are classmates who graduated from Musashino Art University in 2020 with a major in oil painting. Since their student days, they have watched, talked about, and influenced each other's work. Even after graduating and starting their own careers as artists, they continue to hone their skills and hone their creative talents to this day.
In preparing for this duo show, they looked back at each other's works and creative processes, and the keyword "place" emerged as a common thread. Sato Erika reconstructs a certain place, the emotional movements that arise from it, and her own memories in her paintings, overlaying creatures so that they blend into the landscape. Fukuhara Yuta is attracted to the scenery he encounters while commuting every day, and he uses these impressions to depict scenes from his memory. While most of the previous works were untitled, this time the titles include specific locations, making the works more focused on specific locations.
The two art university classmates continue to focus on places and paint sincerely, and are expressing personal yet universal SPOT. Please take a look at the similarities and distance between their works and the two people themselves. We hope that the thoughts and emotions of those who watch the work will overlap like geological layers, creating a special place.
Artist statement
I want to depict "Mononari." "Mononari" refers to the way things are made. Just as there are expressions such as "character" and "local character," I am interested in the image that places and things potentially evoke. I attempt to approach the place on the canvas in a way that expresses that image on the surface as a painting.
There are moments when my mood changes when I see a landscape; when I see a calm sea, my mind becomes calm; and when I walk through an ominous place, my eyes become sharp and I become alert. The creatures that appear in the paintings embody the emotions that specific places evoke, as well as the emotions that change depending on one's location.
At the same time, I sometimes imagine what kind of daily activities take place in that place.
When I look at the factory scenery, I am reminded of my father working there. Images based on personal experiences and memories play an important role in my paintings.
What is important to me is not the drama unfolding there, but rather to link the breath of the place itself with my own personal experiences and reconstruct and express them in my paintings.
This could be considered a sort of self-introduction of the place.
Sato Erika
I have long been drawn to the landscapes I encounter in motion―
the cityscape gliding past the window, shadows of trees swaying in the wind,
walls of buildings dyed by the evening light.
Yet my paintings do not reproduce these scenes,
nor do they begin with a clear image of a specific place.
I begin by placing paint on the canvas, surrendering to chance.
As layers and traces emerge,
memories of landscapes, long embedded in my body, begin to surface.
These memories―tied to a distinct sense of “being there”―
gradually take shape as a particular place on the canvas.
Painting, to me, is both a way to let others re-experience past landscapes
through the crossing of gazes,
and an act of inscribing my presence into the world.
To arrive at a sense of conviction,
I repaint, rotate, and retrace―often making what may seem like unnecessary detours.
Fukuhara Yuta
Sato Erika
Born in Kanagawa pref. Japan, 1996.
2020 BFA, Musashino Art University, College of Art and Design, Department of Oil Painting
2022 MFA, Musashino Art University, Fine Arts Course, Oil Painting
Solo exhibition
2024 "Home ground" Changting Gallery, Tokyo
2023 "SPACE DRIVER" Shimokitazawa Arts, Tokyo
2022 "Strong, and new game" GALLERY b.TOKYO, Tokyo
2020 "A painter and a satellite" gallery TOWED , Tokyo
Group exhibition
2025
OIL ART MARKET 2025, Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore Atrium, Tokyo
2024
ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2024, Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka
2023
Japan-China-Korea Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guizhou Art Museum, China
SHIBUYA STYLE vol.17, Seibu Shibuya department store, Tokyo
CHANGTING GALLERY 3RD EXHIBITION, Changting Gallery, Tokyo
"People" Changting Gallery, Tokyo
"’Oumuamua" gallery TOWED, Tokyo, artgallery opaltimes, Osaka, OF, Okayama
2022
"Tokimeki painting road" HB.Nezu, Tokyo
"Episode one, 16 next generation artists exhibition, vol1" Hankyu Department Store Umeda Main Store, Osaka
"Expression" Changting Gallery, Tokyo
2021
"Shell Art Award 2021 Exhibition" The National Art Center, Tokyo
"SHIBUYA STYLE vol.15" Seibu Shibuya department store, Tokyo
"Ten hundreds years of residence / the light of three o'clock" Kiso paintings, Nagano pref. Japan
"Abstract Paintings by Young Artists" Changting Gallery, Tokyo
"Hazy memories" SOGO department store Yokohama, Kanagawa pref. Japan
"IKESEI STYLE" Seibu Ikebukuro department store, Tokyo
2019
" Collectors 'Collective vol.1 " MEDEL GALLERY SHU, Tokyo
" gallery TOWED, 1st Anniversary Exhibition " gallery TOWED, Tokyo
Awards
2022 Musashino Art University Graduation Project 2022 Excellence Award
2021 Shell Art Award 2021, Student Special Award
2020 Musashino Art University Graduation Project 2020 Excellence Award
Fukuhara Yuta
1997 Born in Tokyo
2020 BFA, Musashino Art University, College of Art and Design, Department of Oil Painting
Solo exhibition
2024
"INPUT50000" BEAK585 GALLERY, Osaka, Japan
2022
“Third Time’s the Charm－Last garden The Movie－” GINZA SIX Art Wall Gallery, Tokyo
“The Garden Once More” MAKII MASARU FINE ARTS, Tokyo
“The garden” Shimokitazawa Arts, Tokyo
Group exhibition etc.
2024
"Concrete ⇔ Abstract" ASTER Curator Museum, Kanazawa
ART BAY TOKYO2024, biscuit gallery, Tokyo
"Look into the water" Shimokitazawa Arts, Tokyo
"This love hasn't even begun" NEWoMan YOKOHAMA, Kanagawa, Japan
"Hello, Art" DAFT about DRAFT FLAGSHIP STORE, Tokyo
"grid3" biscuit gallery, Tokyo
2023
"True colors" ARTDYNE, Tokyo
"biscuit gallery Christmas exhibition" biscuit gallery, Tokyo
"GENE, Genes that transcend generations" gallery HANA, Tokyo
“Nine Colors”, Hankyu Umeda, Osaka, Japan
"grid2" biscuit gallery, Tokyo
2022
“Love&Peace Exhibition 2022”, SOGO Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
“Nine Colors”, Hankyu Umeda, Osaka, Japan
“ART IS…”, WHAT CAFE, Tokyo
2019
Duo Show “introduction”, S.Y.P Art Space, Tokyo
Award
2021 Shell Art Award 2021 Grand Prix
