Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's solo exhibition at Gaa Gallery in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Installation view of Masamitsu Shigeta's exhibition in Cologne

Masamitsu Shigeta  Tree and mirror, 2023  Oil on canvas with sofa frame  84 x 57 cm | 33 x 22.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta

Tree and mirror, 2023

Oil on canvas with sofa frame

84 x 57 cm | 33 x 22.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  Ship 2, 2023  Oil on shaped wood panel and aluminum frame  84 x 61 cm | 33 x 24 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta

Ship 2, 2023

Oil on shaped wood panel and aluminum frame

84 x 61 cm | 33 x 24 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta  A view from ferry, 2023  Oil on canvas mounted panel with wood and cork frame  30.5 x 27 cm | 12 x 10.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta

A view from ferry, 2023

Oil on canvas mounted panel with wood and cork frame

30.5 x 27 cm | 12 x 10.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  Morning foggy city, 2023  Oil on canvas with wood frame  74 x 53.5 cm | 29 x 21 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta

Morning foggy city, 2023

Oil on canvas with wood frame

74 x 53.5 cm | 29 x 21 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta  A tree at Christopher st., 2023  Oil on shaped canvas with wood frame  53.5 x 42 cm | 21 x 16.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta

A tree at Christopher st., 2023

Oil on shaped canvas with wood frame

53.5 x 42 cm | 21 x 16.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  A tree and a brick wall, 2023  Oil on canvas with wood frame  63.5 x 63.5 cm | 25 x 25 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta

A tree and a brick wall, 2023

Oil on canvas with wood frame

63.5 x 63.5 cm | 25 x 25 inch

Masamitsu Shigeta  Walking people 2, 2023  Oil on canvas with wood frame  88 x 88 cm | 34.5 x 34.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta

Walking people 2, 2023

Oil on canvas with wood frame

88 x 88 cm | 34.5 x 34.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  Looking through a tunnel, 2023  Oil on canvas with wood frame  76 x 65 cm / 30 x 25 1/2 in Gaa Gallery

Masamitsu Shigeta

Looking through a tunnel, 2023

Oil on canvas with wood frame

76 x 65 cm / 30 x 25 1/2 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  Walking trough restaurant, 2023  Oil on panel with wood and pin frame  39.5 x 32 cm | 15.5 x 12.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta

Walking trough restaurant, 2023

Oil on panel with wood and pin frame

39.5 x 32 cm | 15.5 x 12.5 in

Masamitsu Shigeta  Night light, 2023  Oil on canvas with wood frame  94 x 79 cm | 37 x 31 inch Gaa Gallery

Masamitsu Shigeta

Night light, 2023

Oil on canvas with wood frame

94 x 79 cm | 37 x 31 inch

Press Release

Masamitsu Shigeta

One day trip

June 1 - September 23, 2023

Gaa Projects Cologne

 

Structured within the 24-hour cycle of a day, One Day Trip presents a pictorial journey through a New York City commute, each painting documenting a specific time of day- morning, daytime, evening, and night. Through the careful rendering of space, Shigeta’s anti-pastoral landscapes convey the subtle shifts of color, light, and geometry to invoke a sense of time, place, and circumstance. 
 
One Day Trip navigates urban spaces, buildings, waterways, streets, and crowds of people moving throughout their day. Through gestural brush strokes and vivid colors, the mundane is transformed into something joyous, intimate, and profound. Often characterized by a still quality, Shigeta’s cityscapes possess a harmony of both quietness and bustle, nature and architecture.

 

Inspired by the Belgian painter Jean Brusselmans Shigeta references his unexpected confluence of nature and architecture. Like Brusselmans, Shigeta juxtaposes the strictness and linearity of urban spaces and the more flexible and layered forms of nature. In One Day Trip, Shigeta also looks to the work of Vincent Van Gogh. Interested in Van Gogh’s use of color and application, Shigeta’s work achieves the likeness of a place but also, perhaps, more importantly, the feeling of place.

 

Materially, the paintings in One Day Trip are comprised of oil on canvas enclosed in artist-made frames. Formally and materially referencing the painted image they enclose, the frames become both a device for enclosure and an extension of the painted form. Made from materials in and around the city and his studio, the frames become a mirror of the image and place. The painting becomes an object. The image spills over and around the edges and out into space. In this, Shigeta’s work becomes almost like a sculpture or installation, creating an architecture that extends into the space of the present while the image clearly depicts a particular moment of time and place. 

 
This toggling between past and present is intentional, and the overall arc of his work is subtly site-specific. Shigeta’s process is one of careful observation. The work begins with walking. On these walks, Shigeta documents the spaces he encounters through photographs that are then brought back into the studio. He paints every place he visits. His work traces his life, travels, and movement through the day- a document of his time and space while also reflecting something universal.

 

Masamitsu Shigeta (b. 1992, Tokyo, Japan) lives and works in Hoboken, NJ. He holds an MFA from New York University and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts. Shigeta has held solo exhibitions with SITUATIONS, NY, Chinatown Soup, NY, and Tyler Park Presents, LA. He has been in group exhibitions at The Landing, LA; John C. Hutcheson Gallery, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN; PLATFORM, David Zwirner; Online Viewing Room, The Hole, NY, 80WSE, NYC; and Cob Gallery, London. His work has been reviewed in The Brooklyn Rail. His work is in prominent collections, including The Dallas Museum of Art.