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Tomokazu MATSUYAMA

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BIOGRAPHY

Celebrated for interweaving the canons of East and West, New-York based artist Tomokazu Matsuyama’s oeuvre defies traditional categorization. Matsuyama’s paintings and sculpture reflects a strategic adoption of Eastern and Western motifs, a response to his upbringing and the impact of globalization on cultural identity. In the tradition of pop art, his work addresses the dichotomy of high and low art, and speaks to the populist notion of contemporary urban culture.

In his figurative works, yet identifiable elements of pop culture are coupled with references to historical masters of both spheres. Obvious influences from the high-brow Kano school, a dominant style of painting in Japan from the 15th – 18th centuries, seamlessly blend with homage to American styles of painting such as Abstract Expressionism, and decorative motifs drawn from notable Western fashion and interior designs.

The restrained abstract works pay homage to NY school of Post War Abstract Expressionist Painters, but instead of allowing the gestural underlay of the paintings to remain spontaneous and untouched, the artist confines them into mandalic patterns, referencing the origami cranes made in the East as good-luck charms. In this way, his abstract works have a concrete meaning in a way abstract expressionism never sought to pursue.

Tomokazu Matsuyama was born in Gifu, Japan in 1976 and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA in Communications Design from the Pratt Institute (NY). Matsuyama’s important exhibitions include the Japan Society, New York; the Harvard University, Massachusetts, and the Katzen Arts Center at American University Museum, Washington D.C., and Museum of Contemporary Art Museum, Sydney, Australia, among other galleries and institutions. His work is part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Cosmopolitan Hotel Group (NV), the Royal Family (Dubai, UAE), The Standard Hotel (Andre Balazs Group), Microsoft Collection, the Long Museum (Shanghai, China), Xiao Museum (Suzhou, China) among others. In August 2014 he was awarded the Harbour City Gallery Public Art Commission in Hong Kong. He was selected to show with HOCA Foundation, Hong Kong (March-April 2017). He was one of the nine new murals of The Wynwood Walls program during Art Basel-Miami 2018 and unveiled the new Houston Bowery Wall in New York in October 2019 as well as a mural in Beverly Hills in 2020. At the occasion of the 2020 Summer Olympic games, he designed a permanent public art project (including a large-scale sculpture and a floor installation) at Shinjuku station in Tokyo, Japan. In 2020 the artist unveiled another monumental permanent public art project for a new building development adjoining Ivy Station in Culver City, Los Angeles as well as second mural on the very select Bowery Mural in Downtown, Soho, New York. In 2021, Matsuyama presented a LED Billboard installation in Chongqing, China, commissioned by Long Museum and an installation of large-scale sculptures and a mural in Chiba JPF Dome, Japan. In 2022, he presented a LED Billboard installation in JING Vision, Tokyo, Japan.
He is currently part of the group exhibition Pop Forever: Tom Wesselmann &… at Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France.

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EXHIBITIONS

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GROUP SHOW

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery is pleased to present the inauguration group show of its new Dubai gallery with works by Noel W. Anderson, Martine Feipel & Jean Bechameil, Louis Granet, Yashua Klos, YoYo Lander, John Madu, Mustafa Maluka, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Jayson Scott Musson, Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, Jeff Sonhouse, Summer Wheat and Thomas Zitzwitz.

Exhibition Dubai 8 March - 23 April 2022
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SUMMERTIME: Godwin C. Namuyimba, Yashua Klos, John Madu, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Brian Rochefort and Summer Wheat

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery is proud to present new works by Yashua Klos, John Madu, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Godwin Champs Namuyimba, Brian Rochefort and Summer Wheat.

Exhibition Luxembourg 29 May - 7 August 2021
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NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Tomokazu Matsuyama

Preview on Thursday September 20, 2018, from 6pm in presence of the artist.
Exhibition September 21 – 27 October, 2018

Exhibition Luxembourg 21 September - 27 October 2018
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PARDON MY LANGUAGE: Wim Delvoye, Carlos Rolón/Dzine, Robert Lazzarini, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Jayson Musson and Alison Elizabeth Taylor

Group show curated by Tomokazu Matsuyama
With Wim Delvoye, Carlos Rolón/Dzine, Robert Lazzarini, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Jayson Musson and Alison Elizabeth Taylor.

Exhibition Luxembourg 19 January - 3 March 2018
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SOMEWHERE HERE: Tomokazu Matsuyama

Zidoun-Bossuyt is pleased to present the new solo show of Tomokazu Matsuyama. Preview on Wednesday November 18, 2015 from 6pm in presence of the artist.

Exhibition Luxembourg 19 November 2015 - 9 January 2016
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THE STANDARD RENDEZ: Tomokazu Matsuyama

Exhibition Luxembourg 4 October - 9 November 2013

PRESS

Gulf Today New spaces from Zidoun-Bossuyt and Perrotin gift more voice to art 9 March 2022
Muhammad Yusuf
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ARTFORUM Spotlight: KOTARO NUKAGA June 9, 2021
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Artsy Market Brief: Tomokazu Matsuyama's Market Accelerates May 28, 2021
Shannon Lee
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Hypebeast Tomokazu Matsuyama Navigates Abstract Atmospheres in "Accountable Nature" Exhibition March 19, 2021
Keith Estiler
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OCULA INSIGHTS Tomokazu Matsuyama's Fragmented Harmonies at Long Museum January 20, 2021
Sherry Paik
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ED Times Tomokazu Matsuyama Brings New Changes to the Art World: Between Border And Convergence August 2020
Brand Voice
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untapped New York NEW BOWERY MURAL BY JAPANESE ARTIST TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA “MATZU” UNDERWAY January 2019
Michelle Young
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Tomokazu Matsuyama @ Gallery Wendi Norris Publish on March 7, 2015
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Luxemburger Wort Farbenspiel eines Kosmopoliten Publish on November 26, 2015
by Cindy Bleser
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Pop ! Publish on December 4, 2015
by Marianne Brausch
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Monde Flottant Publish on December 10, 2015
by Marie-Anne Lorge
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WOXX Planéité sans platitude Publish on December 11, 2015
by Florent Toniello
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Tageblatt Japanisch-amerikanische moderne Märchenwelt Publish on December 5, 2015
by Fernand Weides
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PUBLICATIONS

pub1 TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA – NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Catalogue of the exhibition "No Place Like Home" by Tomokazu Matsuyama.

October 2018
pub1 PARDON MY LANGUAGE

Catalogue from the exhibition "Pardon My Language" curated by Tomokazu Matsuyama with Wim Delvoye, Carlos Rolón /Dzine, Robert Lazzarini, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Jayson Musson and Alison Elizabeth Taylor.

(January 19 - March 3, 2018)

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Artfairs

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery at Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2022 I 16 – 20 November 2022

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Artfairs

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery at Art Dubai 2022 I 11 – 13 March 2022

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Announcements

Tomokazu Matsuyama : New permanent installation at Chiba JPF Dome for “PIST6 Championship”, Japan

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Announcements

Tomokazu Matsuyama : Shinjuku East Square permanent sculpture and art installation in Tokyo

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Announcements

Tomokazu Matsuyama at Meiji Jingu Forest Festival of Art

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Acquisitions

Acquisition of a Tomokazu Matsuyama diptych by the LACMA

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Announcements

Thousand Regards/ Shape of Color”, a new mural by Tomokazu Matsuyama unveiled in Beverly Hills, CA

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videos

Inauguration of Zidoun-Bossuyt Dubai
8 March - 23 April 2022, 2022
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