Art Projects Gallery is delighted to present Japanese artist Ryota Unno’s inaugural solo exhibition in Hong Kong, titled “Visual Diaries of the Floating World”.
Artist Ryota Unno was trained in the “kaiga” (also known as “gado”) Japanese painting technique, one of the oldest and most highly refined of traditional Japanese visual arts. While encompassing a wide variety of genres, depictions of everyday life and narrative scenes crowded with figures and large amounts of details are widely regarded as most characteristic of Japanese painting, for which Ryota is most fascinated with.

The works in Ryota’s latest solo exhibition, “Visual Diaries from the Floating World” at Art Projects Gallery resemble traditional Japanese scroll paintings from afar, but upon closer inspection reveals the artist’s humorous depictions of contemporary society and modern life in Japan.

Painting with traditional Japanese medium such as iwaenogu (natural mineral pigments) and gold foil on Japanese paper, Ryota is influenced by genre paintings of the Edo period in Japan three centuries ago, and feature richly detailed cartoon-like people engaged in a range of activities in various scenes. The artist likes to record and capture the little things that he feels are easily forgotten in our fast-paced everyday life. Through his paintings or “visual diaries”, the artist hopes that the record and rediscovery these captured moments would encourage the audience to recall and appreciate the little pleasures in life.

For Ryota, humor is the most important theme of his works as he feels that it exists within everyone in various degrees. Laughter gives energy and it is this quality about humor that the artist would like to express in his works.

Ryota Unno was born in 1977, Shizuoka, Japan. Graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Japanese Painting from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in year 2004. Ryota has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Japan as well as USA, Brazil, Italy, Taiwan and Singapore.

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