SOM GALLERY is pleased to announce "Interverse," a group show by five artists at Bakuro Yokoyama, Nihonbashi.

Etsuko Watanabe studied under Gerhard Richter at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and has been based in Germany for about 30 years since then. She has skillfully found unusual scenes hidden in familiar day-to-day scenes, and by translating them into the world of painting as a single landscape, she has depicted how our perception of reality shifts in the process of being perceived, while at the same time questioning the nature of painting itself. On the other hand, she has been asking questions about the nature of painting itself.

In this work, she attempts to "extend painting" by regressing to "imperfection" by intervening with strokes in the landscape of an office building with regularly arranged windows, and through the process of compensating for them, brings into existence an image "between figurative and abstract".

Takahiko Yanagisawa is an artist from Kanagawa Prefecture. Yanagisawa replaces various symbols and motifs that do not actually exist with his own worldview, and arranges them in layers on the canvas. The elusive shapes (motifs) take on multiple meanings, depending on the beholder, and are reborn as something that cannot be ignored through Yanagisawa's canvases, acquiring a physical presence.

Born in China, Nimyu received her BFA in Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, and an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art, New York.

Using a variety of media, including painting, video, and installation, Nimyu's work suggests the complex dynamics of an information-driven society and the subtle information management systems that shape our perception of the world.

Nimyu's work aims to challenge the authenticity of narratives and explore the complexity of identity while highlighting the profound impact and action of information. Through her work, she also fosters a meditative dialogue that stimulates critical thinking, reflection, and a deeper understanding of how we receive and process information.

Kotaro Sakazume is a Tokyo-based artist who graduated from Musashino Art University in 2012. Sakazume produces the "Blinkers" series of masked sculptures, in which he transforms and connects vessels ground on an electric wheel to create a sense of "front and back," "inside and outside," and other correlations. By sublimating the function as a vessel that creates space and promoting the form as a rotating object, Sakazume has succeeded in creating an object that has no purpose, giving the sculptural work a value without idolatrous use.

Tatsuki Nishimoto is an Aichi Prefecture-born artist who graduated from Aichi University of the Arts in 2020 and continues to work in Tokyo. Nishimoto uses digital tools to compose and produce elements of people and backgrounds, which he then uses as motifs for his paintings. By creating a series of paintings that explore the relationship between the "staged scene" and the "staging device," Nishimoto gives form to possibilities that could not be determined from a single scene alone and that may extend outside of the painted scene.

With the theme of extending boundaries, this exhibition intends to challenge the expansion of preconceived notions, and by extension, the expansion of expression, through their paintings and sculptural works.

At first glance, their works may be seen as representations reminiscent of early 20th century surrealism.

However, what is inherent in their work and what forms the basis of their work is very different from this movement.

Dadaism and Surrealism aimed to deny the existence of human beings themselves, as well as human thought, during World War I and the interwar period.

In addition, by mixing the fantasy world and the real world in their paintings, Surrealist artists challenged themselves to deny the bourgeois morality and even the nationalistic myths of their time.

Unlike their contemporaries, the development of industrial technology has made it easier for people to create virtual worlds, and even opened up an environment in which many people can experience simulated worlds.

Their works in this exhibition, as if reflecting this chaotic modern age, attempt to destroy and create preconceived notions by coexisting destruction and creation on the screen, expanding the expression with a somewhat strange tinge and combining representations that could be a kind of prayer or a symbol of salvation.

For example, Watanabe and Yanagisawa intervene with strokes in landscapes and figures on the screen and arrange them in layers. While practicing the destruction of the screen, it can be said that they reach a singularity through this process, creating a new screen and value.

In Nimyu's and Sakazume's works, they create somewhat eerie and distorted objects on the screen or as three-dimensional objects, and by using these motifs, they are guiding people toward liberation and salvation from this contemporary society in which real and imaginary images are mixed together.

Nishimoto also uses digital tools to create the boundaries of each work and the information and possibilities that exist within each work through the process of theatrically generating the work.

It could be said that the artist himself destroys some of the information and encourages the beholder to think, thus giving birth to a new story for each beholder.

In this way, this exhibition will encourage visitors to confront the world that has been encapsulated in the past through the artists' daring attempts at creative destruction based on a sense of historical context.

We look forward to seeing you at the exhibition