Kei Imazu

Kei Imazu
Born in Yamaguchi, 1980. Lives and works in Bandung, Indonesia.

Imazu draws on a range of sources for the imagery within her artwork: from renowned masterpieces, illustrated museum catalogues, encyclopedias and even trivial photos found on social media. Taking these images and editing them in Photoshop she makes a preliminary sketch in preparation for the oil paintings she goes on to make.

Her method almost stands in contradiction to the work she produces; the energetic and seemingly free brush strokes are in fact precisely pre-arranged employing the digital software available to her. Glitches, which are created by the processing of heavy data, and the familiar-looking image of the software window, things that nowadays we see on a daily basis, have become striking motifs in her paintings.

Development in technology has always brought a change to human perception, especially in relation to art since even prehistoric times. Imazu’s work both in its creation and in its final manifestation is a reflection of this. However, in the midst of the accelerated development in computer graphics and smart phones – things now seen as essentials – Imazu’s work seeks to acquire updated viewpoints on art history by encompassing self-consciousness and reaction to this current spatial arena and its objects. Through the distorted and intertwined images depicted on the canvas, viewers witness a trace of the long time the artist pursued a deep contemplation of the notion of painting itself.

In 2009, Imazu was awarded Prize for Excellence at VOCA, and Encouragement Award at the 5th Kinutani Koji Award. In 2020, Prix Jean François Prat (France), the prize to promote contemporary painting nominated her as a finalist. In 2022, participation in Documenta 15.

 

Public Collection

San Jose Museum of Art, California, USA
X Museum, Beijing, China
MUSEUM HAUS KASUYA, Kanagawa, Japan
Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, Tokyo
Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo
OKETA COLLECTION, Tokyo

 

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