Solo show of Japanese artist opens in Norwich

Japanese artist Yutaka Hashimoto is hanging a series of oil and acrylic characters at the newly opened gallery Moosey. 

In Hashimoto's first solo exhibition in the UK, Study for Null #003, he takes inspiration from Japanese cartoonists, 19th Century English photographers, and Japanese ideology.

He says: “I want people to forget their invisible barriers and borderlines - racial, gender, religious, ideological differences - and feel that they exist as one living mass of flesh, just for the moment they see my artwork.

“I believe that this state is called ‘無 (Mu)’ in Japanese and loosely translates to ‘zero’ or ‘nothing’ in English, ‘null’ in German and computer terms. I am trying to recreate such a state in my artwork. As a result, I came up with the idea of painting character-like portraits that have no face, colour, gender, or nationality.

"All of my artwork has been, and always will be, unlikely to make sense. I consider this to be an important factor because if it had a meaning, it would give meaning to the figure itself, and at that point it would no longer be ‘無 (Mu)’."

Moosey Art is Norwich-based contemporary art publisher. It opened galleries in Norwich and London subsequently as the screen-printing and art supplying grew. 

Exhibitions so far at the gallery have been with artists the publisher has worked with previously. Gallery manager, Kane Sawyer, says how the work chosen often has a "sense of fun or sinister playfulness".

Study for Null #003 is open until December 23 at Moosey Art, located in Labour in Vain yard off Guildhall Hill, Norwich. Open Wednesday - Saturday 10 - 5pm.