◯ Opening Reception：2026.01.17 Sat. 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

The title of Shingo Horiguchi’s solo exhibition, Reconfigured Westerlies ,reflects an ambition to re-examine the art-historical lineage that has long unfolded with the West as its point of origin, and to rewind that current in order to introduce a new direction into it.

Horiguchi’s recent explorations—his approach to the relationship between “ground” and “figure” within pictorial space, as well as his practice of layering multiple stages of the painting process—resonate with the inquiries undertaken by Paul Cézanne and the painters of Cubism, who sought to question the very structure of painting itself.

Horiguchi aims to create paintings in which objects and the spaces they inhabit are layered multiple times, interwoven, and allowed to penetrate one another within the pictorial field. His practice unfolds through the active incorporation of computing technologies, echoing the spirit of Cubism, which emerged in response to the advances in science and technology.

Multiple images drawn on separate supports are digitally composited, sometimes dismantled, and repeatedly reworked through a process of advancing and retreating. Images conceived in this way appear as though the completed form has been called back from the future, ultimately crystallizing into a single painted work through the artist’s hand.

As a new development in this exhibition, Horiguchi introduces an approach that moves back and forth across the boundary between computer-based processes and manual painting, incorporating techniques of bokashi (blurring) and a heightened awareness of line found in East Asian painting. This attempt functions as a new foothold, allowing his practice to look toward more distant horizons.

Through these explorations, this exhibition presents a significant culmination of Shingo Horiguchi’s recent artistic practice. We sincerely hope you will take this opportunity to experience the exhibition.

Reconfigured Westerlies

HORIGUCHI Shingo

I was born in 1993, and by the time I became aware of my surroundings, there was already a Macintosh computer in my home. I used it to draw pictures. I remember feeling dissatisfied in kindergarten, when painting with real paints, wondering why I couldn’t undo mistakes the way I could on a computer. Since then, digital devices have always been close to me. Because of this, the sensation of erasing actions, trying repeatedly, and selecting only successful outcomes has become deeply ingrained in me. Even in real life, I tend to simulate actions before carrying them out, and it feels unnatural not to do so. In fact, while writing this text, I have used the Control + Z shortcut dozens of times.

How should we live with the fact that we can simulate almost everything? From my savings ten years from now to the itinerary of a future trip, I feel unable to avoid simulating every aspect of my surroundings. It is as if I am researching spoilers for my own life. Perhaps this is a curse cast by the tech industry.

I want to make positive use of this curse through painting. The ability to simulate the production process on a computer should not be used merely to avoid failure or increase efficiency. Instead, I want to inscribe into painting the sensation of time being rewound by Control + Z. I want to entangle forward-moving time and backward-moving time within a single pictorial surface. When the layered images simulated on a computer are subjected to the compression process of painting, the areas without pigment are no longer blank spaces; they become sites where the action of “erasure” has occurred. Painting seems capable of accommodating such operations. I want to generate images that can only be made by someone who has internalized Control + Z.

When I stop painting and look at my finished work, there are increasing moments when I myself can no longer immediately understand the process by which the form came into being. I feel that such paintings may be the ones in which my intention has truly been activated—but I’m not entirely sure.

HORIGUCHI Shingo 　CV

Born in 1993, Kyoto, Japan
2016 B.F.A., Department of Japanese Painting, Tama Art University
2018 M.F.A., Japanese Painting Course, Tama Art University Graduate School
~2022 Assistant, Japanese Painting Studio, Tama Art University

Solo Exhibitions
2026 “Reconfigured Westerlies” LOKO GALLERY／Daikanyama
2025 “POLY -transparency” msb gallery／Nihonbashi
2025 “Polymerization” Kameido Art Center, Higashi-Ojima
2024 “POLY-viewpoints” obi gallery, Fujisawa
2023 “EYE-BALLS ADVENTURE part:2” Yanagisawa Gallery, Higashi-Urawa (organized by Gallery pepin)
2023 “EYE-BALLS ADVENTURE part:1” LOOP HOLE, Fuchu
2021 “The Field and Daylight 3.2” tagboat, Yurakucho
2021 “The Field and Daylight 3.0” Sukiyuwa, Nishi-Ogikubo
2020 “FUZZY CRAWL” Art Space Rashinban, Kyobashi
2019 “BEAST / HUMAN / MACHINE” Kameido Art Center, Higashi-Ojima
2019 “Vapor under the city” Sukiyuwa, Nishi-Ogikubo
2018 “Drone’s eye (half a person)” tagboat, Ningyocho
2018 “The Field and Daylight 2.0” Art Space Rashinban, Kyobashi
2017 “The Field and Daylight” montanO-librO, Nishifunabashi
2017 “The Field and Daylight” Galleria Aoneko, Nishi-Ogikubo

Group exhibitions
2025 “「as if」 – 12 artists express music” Sukiyuwa, Nishi-Ogikubo
2025 “Joint Exhibition of the Painting Department (Japanese Painting / Oil Painting / Printmaking), Tama Art University「Tamabi Beyond, at the 90th Anniversary」” Tama Art University, Hachioji
2025 “UNLABELED” Art Liberation Zone, Ningyocho
2025 “ The 20th Anniversary ‘LOOP HOLE Expo. 2025’ / LOOP HOLE Pavilion” Fuchu Art Museum, Fuchu
2023 “Sourai” Sukiyuwa, Nishi-Ogikubo

Residence
2022  Minato Media Museum 2022

Award
2024  Selected, Idemitsu Art Award 2024
2024  Wakato Onishi Award, KAMIYAMA ART Quadriennale
2024  Chairman’s Award, 59th Kanagawa Art Exhibition (Painting & Sculpture Division)
2018  Sukiw a Prize, Gallery e Ikō 2018
2018  TAGBOAT Award, Independent Tokyo 2018
2018  Selected, 13th Daikokuya Contemporary Art Open Call Exhibition
2017  Selected, Kanaya Art Museum Competition 2017
2014  Encouragement Prize, Yume-bi Biennale Selected Works Exhibition

Artist Website
https://syrocmaunderworld.tumblr.com