Toru Kuwakubo, a painter who has received high praise both in Japan and abroad for his unique worldview, will be holding his first solo exhibition in four years, "A Calendar for Painters Without Time Sense 1. 3. 4. 5. 7. 8," from January 20th to February 17th at the Tomio Koyama Gallery in Roppongi, Tokyo.


Toru Kuwakubo began his artistic practice with a theatrical approach, discovering a fictional painter within himself as a way to confront contemporary art through painting. Deliberately employing the now-classic, impasto-oil technique of Van Gogh, he continues to create captivating works that depict contemporary imaginary landscapes with a rich narrative quality.

This time, he has undertaken the "Calendar Series," which depicts the lives of respected painters on a single canvas. From among the many artists in art history, he has chosen six: Picasso, Vermeer, Ensor, Cézanne, Seurat, and Van Gogh, and has depicted their studios as fantastical, magnificent, other-dimensional spaces, with Kuwakubo Toru's interpretations. It is the ultimate homage, allowing you to relive what the artists were thinking as you choose the works to paint.


This series began in 2014. January represents Picasso, April, evocative of cherry blossom season, represents Ensor, May, evoking the feeling of the breeze in the sky, represents Cézanne, July, evoking the refreshing early summer, represents Seurat, and August, evoking the feeling of the sea on a summer night, represents Van Gogh. Each month represents a unique artist Vermeer loves to paint. This series, which consists of 12 works, took nearly four years to complete, but this exhibition only covers six months, each with a different month. The calendar series itself represents an "irregular speed of time."

This exhibition features six paintings and six drawings from the "Calendar Series." Above the drawings are framed records, on which Toru Kuwakubo commissioned his friend, musician Riki Hidaka, to record music themed around the artist. Using the traditional recording medium of "records," Toru Kuwakubo is also taking on a multifaceted approach, tackling artists from art history through painting and music.

Experience the true essence of art through these ambitious works, which represent the blossoming of a new development in Toru Kuwakubo's work.