Sachi - HAPPY -: Azuma Shinya・Shu Okamoto・Yuto Yonemura

COHJU is pleased to announce that we will have a special exhibition, "Sachi; HAPPY," by Kyoto-based young artists Shinya Azuma, Shu Okamoto, and Yuto Yonemura, from October 31 to November 20, 2024. Following their iconic previous show, “Jet Stream Theory (2021),” this is their second exhibition presenting works created on the theme of “ Happiness.” Please take this opportunity to view each artist's different points of view on the fundamental question of happiness.

Shinya Azuma was born in Osaka in 1994. He received M.F.A in Contemporary Art from Kyoto University of Art and Design. Shinya Azuma sketches images inspired by news programmes or sceneries in daily life through his experience and remake them on canvas with bold brush strokes. Shinya's simple paintings, with peculiar colour usage and dynamic medium texture, have quirkiness and vigour, which stops us from seeing the picture. The themes of the works range from some well-timed serious issues such as wealth inequality or protests all over the world to personal sexual experiences. Still, they all capture different aspects of humanity. Like memes on social media, the distinctive type of humour, which can be both satire and self-deprecating sarcasm, is one of the attractions of his works.

Shu Okamoto was born in Nara in 1995. He graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts with a master's in Japanese painting. Using conventional techniques and traditional materials generally considered in Japanese painting, he creates two-dimensional works that deal with self-referential concepts such as art history itself and the origins of painting. While sketching, which is the basis of Japanese-style painting, is the process of observing and depicting actual objects, he is interested in the viewpoint that photographs and images of the objects also exist as objects, and he tries to use the technique of simultaneously depicting images and their supports in paintings such as Gachuga (picture-within-a-picture) and Fusuma-e (sliding door paintings). 

Yuto Yonemura was born in Osaka in 1996. He graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2019 with a degree in Integrated Arts and Crafts. He creates sculptures in diverse materials such as clay, stone, and FRP. The “Agalman” series (agalma is a coined word meaning "statue" in Greek and man in English), which is made of various materials, is a superhuman statue of a superhero. These works are presented in a heroic pose, and the artist explores the reality of sculpture through the materials and the process of making the sculptures.

▽INFORMATION

Sachi-HAPPY-

Artists: Shinya Azuma, Shu Okamoto and Yuto Yonemura

Date:  October 31 - November 20, 2024