"Future Is Always Bright, Study 3 Future Is Always Bright, Study 3" 2009 acrylic and mixed media on canvas 36 x 48 x 3 in
Need to feel more optimistic about our fast-paced global society? A quick fix would be to step into the Frey Norris in San Francisco and check out the latest works by Tomokazu Matsuyama. “The Future is Always Bright” depicts a technophilic, chaotic, energetic world bursting with bright colors and Asian symbols and superstitions.
Growing up in both California and Japan, Matsuyama draws upon his own sense of cultural displacement to serve as the impetus for the creation of his artwork. The show consists of sculptures and a mixture of small and large paintings done on amorphous and round-shaped canvases. In the sculptural piece Money Talks, Matsu presents a Buddhist sage leaning on a yellow cane, holding a pink piggy bank which is relieving itself of casino chips. Behind the sage is a taxidermied deer with iridescent metallic antlers (historically, a deer symbolizes the first sermon of the Buddha). In the painting, The Future is Always Bright, Matsu paints a universe chock-full of Asian superstitions and symbols associated with affluence, prosperity and good fortune.
While this exhibit will not tell you how to survive today’s “mile-a-minute” world, seeing it from Matsuyama’s perspective will make you giggle for being a part of it.
“The Future is Always Bright” will be showing at the Frey Norris in San Francisco through June 30, 2012.
- “A Portrait of a Sacred Monk” 2010 Hand painted FRP, plastic, glass, aluminum and plastic coated cigarette buds edition of 3 33 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 27 in.
"The Future is Always Bright", Installation view at Frey Norris, San Francisco 2012
"Money Talks" 2009 FRP, taxidermy deer, wood, metal, polyurethane plastic, paint, glass, plastic coins 69 x 60 x 65 in
"The Future Is Always Bright" 2010 Mixed Media on canvas 72 x 200 in
"It's a pleasure to Meet you" 2012 acrylic on canvas 18 x 24 in
"Bon Voyage" 2012 22K genuine Gold leaf, polyurethane auto paint on solid polyurethane Ren Shape 48 x 24 x 24 in
*Photos from the Frey Norris, ArrestedMotion.
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