ARTPLAT(formerly Art Platform Tokyo) proudly presents ‘Leap!!’ featuring three artists, Mika Ieda, Yoshihiro Takeuchi and Rika Minamitani.

Just when things seemed to have started to turn around, Millennials who grew up in the lost decades, years of Japan’s economic stagnation in Japan, were struck by Covid disaster. This experience has drastically changed the behavior and mindset of Japanese youths living today. While new ways of working such as emphasis on work-life balance and remote working have begun to take root in the society, fewer young people are eager to venture outside of their country or their safe environment. In this exhibition, we’d like to introduce three young artists who are bucking the trend and brazing their own trail in the post-Covid era.

　　Mika Ieda left Kyoto before the Covid hit the world and now works as an assistant at Tokyo University of the Arts. She claims that she has a strong respect for materials. For the past eight years she has been trying to express ‘textural expression’ of the materials. A self-claimed ‘material fetishist,’ she is obsessed with the growing possibilities of acrylics. At a first glance, her works appear to be painted intuitively; however, the audience will notice that they’re results of measured and detailed ‘compositional’ procedures. When dealing with unpredictable materials, unforeseen outcomes are inevitable. ‘Accidentalities’ and ’plannings’, ‘vivid’ and ‘restrained’ beauties, and ‘rough’ and ‘silky’ textures – Ieda creates microcosms on canvas where all are portrayed in beautiful harmony.

　　Yoshihiro Takeuchi, who worked at a studio in Tokyo while creating his artworks, decided to quit his job during the Covid era, and now lives as a full-time artist. His signature series, ‘The Chain Series,’ depicts the moment of returning to reality from the world of fiction. His motif is the image of ‘all clear’ in the puzzle game Puyo Puyo. ‘All clear’ is the state where all the Puyos in the screen disappear. The static ‘wallpaper’ in the background is a stark contrast to the busy screen that constantly changes. In his work, the ‘wallpaper’ is an image from his childhood – the bonfire and the sky above. When all the screens are erased, the virtual world of nostalgia also disappears. That’s when the real ‘NEW GAME’ begins.

　Rika Minamiya finished college during the Covid era. She also entered graduate school during the Covid era. Influenced by the fantasy-filled Western animation such as Disney movies she saw in her childhood, her works feature animals and humans in a light-hearted manner. Her latest series protrays figures with tattoos. Tattoos are personal statement as well as fashion statement. The innocent looking figures in her work have skulls and demons etched into their bodies. Her light brushstrokes and somewhat ‘chillax’ undertone lead the viewer into enigmatic world, leaving us wonder whether they express the multiple facets of human nature and vanitas or they are simply doodles on the canvas.