Seeds For Ideas.011

“Seeds For Ideas.011”

Size: H 30.2x W 24.1x D 1.0
Material: Photograph, drawing, frame
Year: 2026
Edition: Unique

Certificate: ︎ ⚪

Signed: ︎ ⚪ ︎
￥132,000( tax inc. )

The sea in Onomichi is connected to the life of the city, yet it feels like it contains time somewhere far away. The sea near the harbor is calm, the waves don't make a loud noise, they just quietly reflect the light. Even though the outline of the opposite bank was clearly visible, only the sense of distance was vague, and the place where I was standing seemed to fluctuate little by little when I looked at it. Right next to the bustle as a tourist destination, the ocean doesn't say anything, it just continues to exist. It seemed like that silence contained a lot.

Signed on the back of the work

matte finish+white wooden frame

EXHIBITION STATEMENTS

It's a rough image, but a modern person's day usually starts with a “notification” and ends with a “scroll.” News apps, social media, timelines, and recommended videos. If you notice it, I remember the brightness of the screen better than the color of the sky. I myself am no exception, and the first thing that catches my eye is not the sky, but the liquid crystal. My initial motivation for becoming aware of “creating a work” was none other than the urgency of drawing a “new landscape” reflecting this chaotic information society and sharing it with many people.

Then, at one point, I began to think that scrolling movement, which continues to be stroked vertically on the screen with my thumb, could be directly reversed to the vertical brushstrokes of the painting.

Busyness and invisible fear can easily create “walls,” both physically and mentally. Infectious diseases, economic unrest, flames, buzz, algorithms — they gradually transform “one's attitude of looking at the landscape” rather than the landscape itself.

I have a desire, which includes a slight sense of arrogance, to present the experience of overcoming that barrier and connecting with others through a place called painting. The inevitability of creating a “new landscape” for the present day was born from there.

The venue, Kyobashi, is located very close to Tokyo Station. People coming to Tokyo from rural areas, people returning from business trips, people heading to the office, people walking away to somewhere — bodies with different destinations once intersect in this neighborhood. Just as a bridge once crossed a river and connected both banks, railroad tracks and roads run underground in today's Kyobashi, and layers of overpasses and buildings fold overhead. Right next to that “transit scene,” I may be trying to draw a different kind of “vertical traffic” on a canvas.

Therefore, what I base myself on is the long time it takes to shape a landscape and the sense of “gravity” that the body unconsciously accepts. The gravity referred to here doesn't just cause apples to drop. The gravity that makes you go to work, the gravity that makes you go home, the gravity that makes you lie down and look into the screen — I want the “downward direction” of those days to settle on the screen. And what was decisive for me was the intuition that “the landscape stretches vertically.” Trees go up, roots go down, strata and the ocean deeply support the world, and architecture builds up from the foundation to the upper floors. The repetitive motion of the thumb scrolling the screen extended to arm and body movements is also my vertical brushstroke.

I incorporate these as vertically unified strokes and gradations of time, and while reconstructing colors extracted from actual scenes, I grow images as layers of accumulation.

The group of works collectively called “landscape” created in this way is a large screen series in which various elements obtained from actual scenery are abstracted and reconstructed. The brushwork, color, and composition are properly planned for the time being, but the destination of the landscape changes depending on how you accept moments such as “accident objects” such as bleeding, protrusion, repainting, and unexpected mistakes.

These paintings, which are based on references to history and continue to be updated in response to the information environment that changes day by day, will stand up in front of the viewer as a landscape where “succession” and “change” run simultaneously.

In this solo exhibition, I will dare to show not only that “finished form,” but also the “process” leading up to that point. Stalled canvases, groundwork forced to change course, botched color schemes, small trial drawings — fragments that would normally sleep in a corner of a studio and wouldn't touch anyone's eyes are brought out into the exhibition space.

Also, right in the middle of the landscape surrounding that “process,” a cafe counter selling bread, etc. is set up. At this location, which is an 8-minute walk from Tokyo Station, the counter that stands up in the center of the gallery is just another platform that deviates slightly from the flow of the city. You can cross your arms and look at the picture with a difficult face, or you can just trace vertical brushstrokes with your eyes while drinking coffee with bread in one hand.

I would like to incorporate the very natural physical sensation of “watching a landscape while talking about something” as part of this exhibition.

My paintings are both walls and windows.

Although it is a flat surface that separates space, it is a gaze device that goes back and forth between reality and fiction, and reconnects our relationship anew. The polished state of the window is not the only thing that is lined up in this exhibition. It is a trace of the “process” including unpolished marks, uneven wiping, and even fingerprints when taking a break along the way.

There may be bread crumbs falling from time to time, but I want you to think that is also part of the landscape of this era. While going back and forth between the finished work and the unfinished fragments, and the steam of coffee and the aroma of bread, I hope you can enjoy the moment in yourself where the scenery and feelings that have not yet been put into words slowly stretch vertically.

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Sanada Shotaro new solo exhibition “FOR”

Period:
(Sat) 31st January, 2026 - (Tue) 3rd March, 2026

*Reception will be held on Friday, January 30, 19:30 – 21:00

*A performance featuring music and visuals is scheduled.

*Please note that performance details are subject to change.

Address:

104-0031
TODA BUILDING 1F, 1-7-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Business hours:
08:00 - 19:00

Closing date:

Open every day during the exhibition

Access

3 min walk from exit 6 of Kyobashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line

5 min walk from exit B1 of Nihonbashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line

8 min walk from the Yaesu Central Exit of Tokyo Station on all JR lines

Tokyo 8 min official Instagram