“I want to throw away my skill; however, it's impossible to be entirely rid of something that’s deeply engraved within you.”
Stylised figures, distorted identites.
Tomoo Gokita’s eerie paintings exist on the periphery of figuration and abstraction. Exploring the depths of human psychology, his works typically depict figures made unrecognisable by abstract brush strokes and smears of paint. These faceless protagonists, often sourced from vintage magazines and newspapers, include celebrities, pro wrestlers and lingerie models. Gokita chooses to impartially obscure these figures rather than indulge their cultural cachet - using a film noir, monochromatic palette to heighten psychological undertones. The artist draws inspiration from movements including Surr...
Bio
Tomoo Gokita (he/him) is a Japanese artist born in Tokyo in 1969, where he continues to live and work.
At auction
Original painting Be Just Like Family (2015) sold for over 1 million USD in 2019 at Phillip’s New York, around three times its upper estimate.
Museum shows
In the summer of 2021 Gokita opened Get Down at Dallas Contemporary, his first solo museum show outside of Japan. He created works for the show during the pandemic, with painting providing a refuge from current events – “What can I do in this pandemic? What will become of humanity? Ignoring such questions, I simply focused on painting.”
