Keisuke Maeda has drawn keen attention of collectors at solo exhibitions held both at home and abroad, such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen. His works were highly appreciated at established art fairs in Europe and U.S. due to the delicate touch in his paintings as well as unique practice in drawings.

In this exhibition, Maeda challenged to visualize "unrelieved souls" and "their requiem." He came up with the sea in Fukushima in the night as a main theme, thinking of people who lost something to rely on in the modern society and are still left in unexplainable anxiety because of Fukushima disaster and its impacts. Changing its expression, the sea in the night reminded him of "3.11" and the days followed by, when it reveal the ugliness, beauty, folly and nobility of human beings. It could be a scene in their mind to express aroused anxiousness and uncanny fear. Again, it could be a pray of Maeda himself with the dim light to shine the darkness.

His drawings, one of the extraordinaire styles of his works, are drawn with watercolor pencil combined with hatching, a traditional technique to shade with fine but solid lines. This exhibition also presents portraits of a girl lowering her eyes and tilting her head titled by "untitled". It could be a certain style of "requiem" in a girl figure, or an anonymous wish left her unnamed.

Purple is the main color throughout paintings, with glossiness and depth in their colors as Japanese lacquer, as he said "purple has the weakest wave length among seven colors which consists of rainbow. I wish the weakest light of hope would be noticed."

Have a look at Maeda's solo exhibition!