“Colours that are just squeezed out of the paint will not give you the depth that you have experienced in life. It takes a lot of time to try to find that depth”
Up close with sensory slime
Kotao Tomozawa’s paintings are playfully unsettling. At first glance they look hyper-realistic, but on closer inspection rough and energetic brush strokes are revealed. Tomozowa takes inspiration from calming moments of her youth spent playing with slime. This serenity became a starting point for self-expression in arresting close-up paintings. Tomozawa’s signature motif is heads masked by slime or gel-like ribbons. Working in oil on canvas, she punctuates lifelike flesh tones with deep blue, vivid red and bubblegum pink.
As well as three solo exhibitions in 2022 alone, Tomozawa has pursued a v...
Bio
Kotao Tomozawa (she/her) was born in 1999 in Bordeaux, France. She now lives, works and studies in Japan as a Graduate student at Tokyo university of the arts.
Accolades
In 2019 Kotao Tomozawa won the Kume Keiichiro Prize, and in 2021 she won the Ueno Geiyu Prize.
Did you know?
Tomozawa is named after Koh Tao, an island in Thailand that her parents travelled to and fell in love with.
