Hitomi

Born in 1991 in Saitama, Japan. Based in Tokyo.

Hitomi’s practice explores the subtle vitality that emerges within the relationships between body, nature, and perception. Her paintings attempt to capture fleeting states of existence—sensations, emotions, and atmospheric presences that resist verbal articulation yet remain deeply embedded in human experience.

Her artistic path grew from a prolonged engagement with inner inquiry. Since childhood, she has reflected on identity and perception through dialogue with others. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when opportunities for direct conversation diminished, she turned toward painting as a way to give form to thoughts and sensations that language could no longer contain.

Working primarily with acrylic, Hitomi approaches painting as a bodily act. Large gestural strokes function as moments of release, while subtle adjustments allow delicate perceptions to surface. Within this process, she brings seemingly opposing forces—order and chaos, intuition and reason, light and shadow—into a shared pictorial space. Rather than resolving these tensions, the work allows them to coexist and resonate.

Floral forms often appear in her paintings, yet they do not represent specific botanical species. Instead, they emerge as what might be described as “flowers as waves of existence”: temporary manifestations of life’s vibrational energy. These forms sometimes arise intentionally, and at other times appear spontaneously through the rhythm of the body and the flow of sensation during the act of painting.

In certain series, she incorporates the irregular textures and structural fragility of Washi paper into the work. Through processes of tearing, dismantling, and reconstructing the material, the surface becomes a site where traces of time, memory, and breath accumulate. This transformation reflects her interest in cycles of dissolution, regeneration, and the continuous reconfiguration of matter and life.

Hitomi’s paintings hold a dynamic tension between delicacy and force, stillness and intensity. By allowing inner contradictions and fluctuations to remain visible, the work opens a space where viewers may encounter their own subtle perceptions.

Through this process, her practice seeks to reveal the quiet but persistent movement of life—an ongoing rhythm of emergence, transformation, and renewal.