Artist Statement

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The foundation of my practice lies in the Japanese aesthetic principle of Ma, a concept deeply embedded in the country’s philosophy, art, and everyday life. Often translated as “gap,” “pause,” or “interval,” Ma conveys far more than mere emptiness. It embodies a spatiotemporal awareness in which absence holds as much significance as presence, and silence or stillness is charged with meaning. In Ma, space and time are inseparable: space is perceived through the passage of time, and time is made tangible through the spaces we inhabit.​

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In visual artistic traditions, Ma is often represented through minimal compositions, monochrome palettes, or expanses of emptiness that invite contemplation. My practice, however, departs from this expected vocabulary. Rather than leaving the surface bare, I saturate it with layers of colour and subtle brushwork, creating rhythms and movements that suggest a living presence within the work. My paintings do not depict what is visible; they evoke what cannot be seen—the tension and calm residing in intervals, the suspended atmosphere of a moment on the edge of unfolding. I am drawn to painting the void itself: the charged silence where time momentarily holds, and anticipation lingers.

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Central to my process is the use of Iwaenogu (lit. “rock paint”), traditional Japanese paints made from mineral pigments. Ground from natural rock, these paints carry a uniquely matte quality and a subdued colour palette that harmonises with the atmospheric qualities I seek to express. Each painting is built up through numerous layers, an approach that allows me to embed a sense of depth and temporality into the surface. The gradual accumulation of pigments generates a quiet tension, as if traces of time are suspended within the layers of colour, transforming each work into a vessel that holds both space and duration.

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Ultimately, my work is a meditation on the transient nature of existence as embodied by Ma. By focusing not on physical form but on the intervals, voids, and atmospheres that surround and permeate it, I offer viewers a space to pause, reflect, and attune themselves to the fragile balance between presence and absence. My paintings are expressions of stillness in flux—moments suspended—where calm and anticipation coexist, and where the elusive essence of Ma can be felt rather than defined.

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