SEIZAN Gallery New York is pleased to present Winter Group Show: Traveling. On view from December 21st, 2023 through January 20th, 2024, the exhibition features works by Yuichi Kashima, Akihiro Misaki, and Kaz Watabe. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, December 21st, from 4-7pm. 

Yuichi Kashima (b. 1981, Tokyo, Japan) creates oil paintings and woodblock prints of nightscapes derived from personal memory. The images have a dreamlike logic: a highway wrapping around a remote mountain; a rural road framing a grid of rice fields; a construction site glowing in the dark. The artist distorts otherwise mundane landscapes, working on canvas or paper. The images blur and bridge between ordinary and extraordinary, reality and dream. Kashima received the Master of Arts from Tokyo University of the Arts where he trained in oil painting and printmaking. His works have been shown in Japan, New York, Milan, and London. 

Lithograph artist Akihiro Misaki (b. 1987, Tokyo, Japan) explores dreamlike imagery in black and white. Abstract shapes, objects, and bizarre sceneries are combined with faceless human figures. Misaki captures nostalgic, tranquil, and ominous moments which connect with the memories and dreams of viewers.  After studying Nihonga, Japanese traditional painting, in Tokyo University of the Arts, Misaki joined L’ART VÉRITÉ, Institute of Arts and Lithography in Tokyo. While there he trained in printmaking. Misaki expanded his artistic practice with black and white drawing, and handmade books, which have been widely exhibited in Japan, New York, Changhou, China, and in Bologna, Italy. 

With muted color and heavy brushwork, Kaz Watabe (b. 1975, Chiba, Japan) creates a tranquil, introspective world populated by whimsical characters. His oil paintings resemble scenes out of a modern fantasy animation or story-driven video games. These images include a man with a crow head looking at a pillar of fire and a girl traveling on the back of mysterious creature. Watabe invites viewers to complete the narrative around the characters and imagine the next chapter. Watabe studied oil painting in Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. His works have been included in many shows in Japan, New York, Taipei, and Ha Noi in Viet Nam. SEIZAN Gallery New York hosted his first NYC solo exhibition “Bucket Boy And Inchworm” in 2022.