Sato uses drawing and painting as a way to chronicle and interpret the complexity of human life around him. He employs fine lines and brushstrokes as tools to explore various themes such as obsession, fear, and romance. Fact and fiction, real life and fantasy ‒ all well forth, intertwined, through diverse media, including paintings, drawings, and installations. Viewing contemporary art as a “world of tolerance,” Sato explains that painting is a way for him to receive acceptance — a sense that someone like him has a right to exist. Often, what he depicts are things that many shy away from, without fully understanding them, things that we conceal deep within ourselves, and turn our backs on. Perhaps that is why they resonate deeply as something painful, or, at times, sweet. It is the body that becomes the site where all of these contradictions — pain and pleasure, concealment and exposure — are held. The installation invites the viewer into a space that evokes the interior of a human body, bringing them into confrontation with what is usually kept out of sight, while probing the reciprocal gaze of self and other, and the links between appearance and psyche. The artist has provided the following statement for the presentation. 　 “The Box” is a space that I have shaped to represent my own body. The square perimeters have a single opening and small windows. Inside of which are exhibited paintings that reflect my inner self. Viewers pass through its opening and simultaneously observe the work while emerging from it as the observed. The opening is a hole through which the body exchanges breath with the outside world. It also has an architectural functionality that allows movement from inside out. By passing through the box’s opening, viewers come into contact with my inner sanctum, becoming a part of me in an instance where the boundaries between self and other blur. The small windows stand as symbols of the gaze. The gaze that penetrates is reminiscent of what Jean-Paul Sartre called “the gaze of the other.” Unsettling and threatening as it may be through a narrow opening, it is also an unprecedented opportunity for interaction. Since childhood, I have had difficulty communicating naturally with others. Thus, drawing became my only means of communication—a small window open to others. Yet, I sense that in our present society, technology disguises itself as a connection even as it isolates individuals, weakening the potency of physical interactions. “The Box” reflects this contradiction, while revealing an earnest desire for connection. I want this box to become the living body that binds you to me. 　 This presentation will consist of approximately 40 works. We cordially invite you to view Sato’s new endeavors.

ABOUT ARTISTS : Ataru Sato

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For Ataru Sato, drawing and painting are tools to chronicle and interpret the complexity of human life around him, exploring personal themes in strikingly honest and at times provocative imagery. He sees art as being created by people who are alive to express their lived experiences and has no aspiration to create art for art’s sake, art that is novel, or art that seeks to be meaningful. Sato refuses to shy away from fantasies, shame, loneliness, pain, or indulgences, matters that are typically considered indecent or immoral but are nonetheless integral aspects of the psyche. He opens a direct portal into a psychological investigation of his lived experience. Ataru Sato was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1986 and is currently based in Tokyo, Japan. In 2009, he graduated from the Advanced Art Course in the Department of Information Design, Faculty of Arts and Design at Kyoto University of Arts and Design. In addition to his 2011 and 2015 solo exhibitions at Gallery Koyanagi, the artist has also held shows in cities such as New York and Brussels. The artist’s major group exhibitions include “10,000 Lives: The Eighth Gwangju Biennale” (Gwangju, 2010), “Yokohama Triennale 2011: OUR MAGIC HOUR – How Much of the World Can We Know?” (Yokohama Museum of Art, Kanagawa, 2011), “Inside” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2014), “INTERPRETATIONS, TOKYO” (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2019), “DOJIMA RIVER BIENNALE 2019” (DOJIMA RIVER FORUM, Osaka, 2019), “LA MORSURE DES TERMITES” (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2023) and “A Personal View of Contemporary Art: Takahashi Ryutaro Collection” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2024). Sato’s works have been acquired by the Miyanomori International Museum of Art, Sapporo, the Japigozzi Collection, the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection, and Louis Vuitton Malletier.

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