Mitsuo Kimura

Japanese born Kimura paints works inspired by his upbringing surrounded by the thriving Japanese anime and cartoon industry. With staggering technical detail and an intensity of image rarely seen in the work of Western artists, Kimura captures a collision of Eastern and Western notions of life and how we navigate through its varied meanings.

The Deep Forest has come to represent the theatre of Kimura’s experience, one which he moves through assigning meaning and importance to the interactions replayed at the end of the day. A way to visually define the emotions hard to express in his recently acquired English language. Kimura’s works explore doubt, fear, anticipation, and experience in an eloquent and arresting approach.

Having visited Canada to learn and improve his English speaking skills in 2007, Kimura returned to Japan invigorated by his experience of a new culture and began to search for an audience for his work. Longing for a return to Canada to continue his development in English and his Art practice. Kimura, who holds a BFA from Musashino Art University (Japan) began to search for galleries who exhibit artists in his generation and aesthetic. Drawn to artists Nicholas Di Genova and Katie Pretti at LE Gallery. Kimura applied with a portfolio of unique, youthful images, born out of his experience in the culture of both rural and urban Japan. Densely crafted paintings on paper of animals and characters explore the concept of the earth as a pond in which all life exists, its joys, pains, and disappointments. Narrative based and truly inspired by a childhood in the saturated visual environment of Japan, Kimura’s rendering skills impress and reflect a dedication and devotion to the understanding of the world around him. Taking the form of popular anime in it's detail, colour and playful imagery, Kimura crafts images unique to the North American audience, whom often experience artists experiencing asian otaku culture through the lens of Western experience.

Exhibitions at LE