Masakatsu Sashie’s Spheres Hover Over Post-Apocalyptic Landscapes In New Oil Paintings
These days, anything futuristic looks like AI may have created it, but these oil paintings were completely hand-drawn by Japanese artist Masakatsu Sashie, following an art form he’s been practising since the year 2000. His paintings depict orbs with architectural elements composed of familiar objects such as air conditioners, the Olympic logo, neon hotel signs, and more floating over dystopian landscapes.
The talented artist created these unique illustrations of how he envisioned Earth in a post-apocalyptic scene as a means of representing the universe. Speaking on how this embodies Earth, Sashie mentioned, “My inspiration came from designs that feature circles symbolically composed within rectangles, such as the Japanese national flag, Hanafuda cards, and mandalas. This led me to the idea of symbolically expressing the sphere.”
#1 “TOKI”
#2 “Phantasm (night)”
#3 “Phantasm (day)”
Talking to DeMilked about how he ended up adopting this particular style, Sashie stated, “At first, I started by making a story. Making a story is like making a world. How to express this world in my artwork and what is happening with the structure of this world was a major theme”, further adding, “Also, not only some animations or some science magazines but also coming across the poem “Legend”, written by Tsunao Aida, influenced me in the direction of art and my artistic subject matter.”
#4 “Echo”
#5 “Concrete”
#6“Shield”
Speaking on his creative process, Sashie informed DeMilked, “The process of creating my work begins with gathering images related to the theme. These images come from photographs I take myself, as well as those captured by others and available on the internet. I then reassemble these elements on the canvas, akin to an assemblage, and paint them in oil.”
7 “Hall”
#8 “Boiler”
#9 “SYMBOL パ”
Masakatsu Sashie will have upcoming solo exhibitions in May 2025 at Outre Gallery in Melbourne, and in July 2025 at i GALLERY in Osaka. and in November at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome.
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