IZUMI KATO
Perrotin announces the exhibition dedicated to Izumi Kato. It will present a survey of his recent practice, highlighting new developments in his paintings, drawings, and sculptures made from various media including wood, stone, soft vinyl, textile, plastic models and cast aluminium.
February 28 – March 23, 2024
Imagine, for a moment, that Izumi Kato’s figurative subjects have a life of their own. From the artist’s studio in Tokyo, his subjects have traversed the ocean, crossing the Pacific to emerge in Los Angeles. Making their way to Pico Boulevard, they appear utterly at home in Southern California—a place where one can encounter the extremes of both prehistoric geology and urban modernity, where tar pits coexist with gleaming new buildings, where eternal ocean cliffs abut concrete highway.
Both primitive and pop, the simple geometries and biomorphic shapes Kato uses to compose his distinctive figures seem to nod at the elemental forms found in petroglyphs and cave paintings, while also channeling the character-driven aesthetic of contemporary culture. He uses timeless natural materials such as wood and stone alongside manufactured creations such as plastic and vinyl.
Although trained as a painter, Kato works across media, and his exhibition in Los Angeles features both paintings and sculptures, the latter constructed from materials including stone, cast aluminum, and fabric. A monumental fabric figure, measuring over 17 feet (4.5 meters) tall, hovers above the exhibition, hanging from the soaring bow truss of Perrotin’s spacious gallery.
At the opposite end of the size spectrum is a plastic model kit, an edition inspired by the artist’s own memories of toy models. On view and also available for sale, these model kits provide owners with the materials to create their own plastic miniature versions of Kato’s stone sculptures.
Born in 1969, Kato grew up in the Shimane Prefecture, an area of Japan where the Shinto god Ōkuninushi was believed to have lived. As other art critics have noted, the experience of growing up with the surrounding context of Shinto shrines and the natural landscape of mountains and sea may have implicitly informed the role of mythology and nature in Kato’s work.
Though he pursued formal art education at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Kato’s specific techniques and artistic vocabulary cannot be traced back to academic art training, but are rather the products of the artist’s self-taught and unique approach to technique and materials. Kato’s intuitive practice is especially notable for his skill as a colorist and the compelling palettes he develops for each painting.