TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA (B. 1976)

Tomokazu Matsuyama, better known as ‘Matsu’, is a Brooklyn-based Japanese contemporary artist with a distinctive multicultural style that boasts a synergistic blend between traditional Japanese and contemporary American culture. In his works, Matsuyama includes motifs from American pop art and street art mixed with appropriations of traditional Japanese icons. As seen in the lot Swinging While I’m Singing, his use of a bold, vivid color palette reminds the viewer of a graffiti wall. In painting his works, Matsuyama employs an urban technique that stems from Abstract Expressionism and the traditional Japanese genre of Ukiyo-e. He explains, “I want to portray the culture that we live in and to do that, for me, is to make a mash up of what makes our time very unique”. By successfully merging the boundaries of East and West, as well as the past and present, Matsuyama’s works kindle a dialogue about self-identity and diversity within our globalized society.