Shinpei Kusanagi was born in 1973 in Tokyo where he currently remains based. He has provided images for numerous book covers and in 2013, a book of Kusanagi’s images and texts titled Kiyosumi kaiwai was published by Kyuryudo.
In the past, Kusanagi produced landscape paintings by staining untreated canvases with layers of translucent colors. In recent years, he has continued to use staining as his principal method, while incorporating dynamic and improvisational brushstrokes to apply vivid colors resulting in striking abstract paintings. The coexistence of motion and stillness in the composition and colors, and their contrast and harmony are compositional elements that dramatically extend the pictorial space. Kusanagi’s landscapes evoke familiar natural scenes and phenomena, such as trees, greenery, and flowers; the sun and the moon; and the sea and clouds, while simultaneously making viewers imagine an unknown “elsewhere” that expands outside our world.
His solo exhibitions include, “so far so close”, Altman Siegel Gallery S/F, San Francisco (2018 and 2014) and “project N 45 KUSANAGI Shinpei”, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo (2011). Kusanagi’s work was featured in the group exhibition “MOT Satellite 2017 SPRING – by the deep rivers” Tokyo (2017) and “VOCA”, The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo (2011). His works are included in the collections of Frederic R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles; KKR Japan; the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; The Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; The UBS Art Collection, London.
