young Toronto painter Keita Morimoto, profiled in the October 2017 problem of home & Home, is garnering lots of interest for his portraits, with solo shows both in Canada as well as the U.S. however the Japanese-born artist’s renderings of his peers have more in typical with works by Dutch masters than the 17 million selfies uploaded each week. Keita’s renderings of light as well as dark elevates downtown hipsters, as well as turns nondescript restaurants into radiant beacons. right here is a choice of his works, as well as insights from Keita about what makes each one unique.

After The Rain, 2016, oil as well as acrylic on linen (60 1/4″ x 4″). All work offered with Nicholas Metivier Gallery.
Keita will frequently browse for designs on Facebook, or phone call on friends, as he did for this painting. “After The rain depicts three peers of mine who came by my studio individually to do picture sessions. The background is a peculiar staircase structure in the middle of the Humber Bay Park in Toronto’s West beaches. The piece took rather a bit of digital collaging, which I use rather a great deal in my work. It’s a similar concept to other pieces like At The Stop, where superimposed figures ended up being a visual trigger as well as invitation for the viewer to produce their own narratives.”

At The Stop, 2017, oil on panel (20″ x 16″)
Many of Keita’s paintings depict the city at night, which enables him to play up the contrast of light as well as dark. In this piece, a suburban streetscape conveys a sense of isolation. “At The Stop is in my community where there was this extremely triangular home that I discovered visually intriguing. I always enjoy the concept of vague narratives between a figure as well as an atmosphere like the ones in Edward Hopper’s paintings. They tend to produce a type of visual tension.”

Kenkenpa (Hopscotch), 2015, oil on panel (24″ x 18″)
The delicate details of a gauzy skirt overlay, dark background as well as the subject’s luminous skin recalls John singer Sargent’s portraits of society princesses. “The woman in a karaoke space was a extremely simple concept I got from Aya (my buddy in the painting) who was jumping around the space while we were doing a picture shoot. We were arranging the chairs in a method that she might play hopscotch on them. I truly enjoy the mismatch of activity as well as the area the person occupies. when it’s painted, I discover it lends an ambiguous high quality to what’s really happening.”

Storefront, 2017, oil on panel (20″ x 16″)
The focus of Keita’s newer works lusters a spotlight on frequently overlooked storefronts on city streets that people pass by many times a day, yet may never notice. “Storefront is based on a restaurant in Koreatown in Toronto, near Christie train station. The colored LED lights in the store window instantly caught my eye, as well as made me want to paint it.”

Watch, 2017 acrylic as well as oil on panel (16″ x 20″)
Even a humble linen store is bathed with a golden light, so it seems to glow amid the dark alleys as well as sidewalks. “The yellow storefront is a bed linen store in my neighborhood. What truly got me excited about the scene was the feline in the window above the store: I felt as if this creature was surveying the store as a guardian angel.”