Machiyama Kotaro (b.1980) is a Japanese painter, illustrator and web designer from the Chiba Prefecture. We love his xeroxed-like coloring and his characters, vaguely reminiscent of those in Aubrey Beardsley’s drawings.
Also on Behance, Flickr and Saatchi.
Here’s his artistic statement and a selection of his works.
Combining the desire to get closer to an object that I am attracted to and thinking about it in a time other than the present…
“I want to draw it, because it is beautiful” is same as “I want to be like that, because it looks cool” or “I want to sing, because it seems fun.” This is the first condition of “the desire to get closer to an object that I am attracted to.”
The second condition, “thinking about it in a time frame other than the present,” is the process and result of a creation derived from an attractive object and the capturing of it on a flat surface. The process of composition, extraction of colors, and the reconstruction of them helps one to detach from the obvious standards of everyday life and start thinking in a time that is out of the ordinary. The result is a creation that includes more “confusion” than “comprehensibility,” keeping in mind that “confusion” helps one think in a time frame not of the present. In our busy, everyday lives, we often can’t think this way, but it’s like how you are transported when you think about a favorite place, movie, or music- I believe this artistic process is similar.
All images © Machiyama Kotaro
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