Real Clothes Ⅰ

Real Clothes is a fashion term referring to everyday clothing. This series, Real Clothes I–III, takes as its motif the hair salon Real Clothes, then located in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. Created as my graduation project at Musashino Art University, the series established the working method that continues throughout my practice today.

The series explores the integration of two different modes of image production within a single painting: drawing while observing a photograph, and introducing a print-like process by dyeing fabric based on the pixel information of a digital image.

A single pixel is randomly sampled from a photograph taken with an iPhone 8, and its CMYK values are translated into textile dyes used to color cotton fabric, which is then stretched onto a panel with the same 16:9 aspect ratio as the original photograph. Another selected color is translated through the artist’s own perception into oil paint and applied to the sides of the panel, allowing the sides to function as a visual frame. The image itself is rendered with sumi ink and transparent watercolor.

In traditional oil painting, elements such as the canvas, ground, and support are usually concealed beneath the painted surface or hidden on the reverse and sides. In this series, these elements are intentionally revealed as part of the work’s structure. Moving between perspectives such as seeing and recording, or surface and reverse, the works present the multilayered nature of perception through painting.