#12 Hiroaki Onuma
Hiroaki is originally from Japan, he started studying Fashion Marketing in Tokyo before moving to London to study Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins. Now living in Amsterdam, he dabbles in a wide spectrum of mediums and styles, he allows himself to extend beyond the confinements and restrictions of classic paintings. Through the use of different textures, layers, brush strokes, colours, images and styles, Hiroaki describes his process as a form of improvisation with a sense of playfulness. In September he will be exhibiting in Tokyo. Past exhibitions include Sobering Gallery Paris, White Conduit London and Peter Augustus Dallas.
When did you start painting?
“I always liked painting since I was young. When I started painting more often, it was in London. There was the first time I started painting with acrylic paint. I used to paint with oil paint when I was 13 years old to make still lifes. In London I was very new to all the materials so I wanted to see what I could make. I tried a bit of everything. There I also started developing my ‘monster’ works, but most of that happened when I moved to Amsterdam. In that time I wasn’t really interested in people or faces or scenery.” According to Onuma, the monsters act as a speculative place that not only allow him to output the combination of his diverse interests and experiences into Japanese and Western styles but also as devices that hold his memories and origin of Japan. He wants to transcend the dualism of figurative and abstract, and interprets the concept of monsters as a convenient tool that can include both figurative and abstract. “A monster is a bridge between figurative and abstract, but now I’m more into abstract painting”.
Did you notice a shift in your work when you became a dad?
“My work changed, yes. At some point when my son was born, like after 3 months, I tried to make more cute monster paintings. But now it’s not so cute, the paintings. I’m talking to myself more. In my private life we’re a little bit of a though situation. Now I feel the need to paint more, this is also when the shift between the monster paintings and my now abstract work began. Although that change is not super clear.”
With the abstract paintings, when do you know when to stop?
“That’s always very difficult. I always feel like in the process I need to have that certain point when you start to feel unsure about decisions you’ve made in the work, only to find out it added to the painting. At some point I want to the destroy the image and paint again. But it’s always difficult to say this is finished.”
Since the works all rely on improvisation. How do you get into that flow?
“It takes about 20 or 30 minutes before I start painting if I’m lucky, from that point on I am almost immediately in the flow. I don’t need to think about time or my surroundings, that’s the best feeling. Occasionally beer and smoking helps, or coffee. But if I drink too much my body becomes very heavy so then it doesn’t work. When I work on big paintings I need to be psychical in order to show movement in the work. That’s why I like to work big, it contains more energy. I am always surprised by the outcomes, I never expect these images in my head. Like a surprise gift.”
How do you experience living in Amsterdam?
“It’s very pretty here, there is a lot of free energy here. I don’t need to care about what anybody thinks. But it is kind of expensive here. “
Do you have any exhibitions coming up?
“I am joining a group exhibition at Whynot. Tokyo at the end of September. I won’t be exhibiting bigger works, maybe 10 smaller paintings.”
