Archetypes lifted from film noir, pulp fiction or 60s erotica appear in varying states of degradation or deconstruction in Tomoo Gokita’s elegantly disconcerting creations.
First drawn to art by his love of manga and animation, Gokita has extensive professional experience in graphic design and illustration. Well known in Japan for his album covers and t-shirt designs, Gokita started working on canvas in 2005. His grey-scale paintings evoke celebrity headshots or movie-star portraits, but present uneasy scenes in which flesh morphs, melts or is scratched away, while faces are obscured by masks or veils of paint.
Gokita’s works recalls the surrealists’ cryptic fantasies but are also informed by neo-expressionism, personal favourites such as Julian Schnabel, or pop cultural influences such as Playboy magazine. His paintings have been exhibited in Japan, USA, Russia, UK, Greece, Australia and his first solo museum show was held at Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, Chiba, in 2014.