Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST
March 8 – May 11, 2025 | Open Daily
Azabudai Hills Gallery (Garden Plaza A, MB Level, Azabudai Hills)
5-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A MBF
Tokyo, JapanTokyo, Japan, November 25, 2024 – Azabudai Hills Gallery–Mori Art Museum’s new annex, contemporary art gallery, and cultural destination–is pleased to announce Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST, the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Tokyo. The exhibition will feature around 40 of Matsuyama’s works from the last decade, spanning painting, sculpture, and installation. A new large-scale series, First Last, will be presented to the public for the first time. The exhibition follows major solo exhibitions by Matsuyama at the Venice Biennale (2024), Shanghai Powerlong Museum (2023), and Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art (2023).
Through his use of vivid color and monumental scale and his mixing of cultures and time periods, the artist intends for viewers to contemplate the global realities of contemporary society. His work seeks to question important, sometimes divisive issues of the day, including political divides, social conflicts, and gender equality. Matsuyama hopes to foster new connections and empathy through art and strives to address the question, “What ultimately brings us fulfillment?”
Matsuyama’s new series First Last probes the paradoxical nature of contemporary society, where balance seems to be maintained through perpetual challenges—a society in which, as the artist puts it, “the last shall be first, and the first last.” These works reexamine the world through his distinctive background and perspective. Born in the mountain town of Hida Takayama in Gifu to Christian parents, Matsuyama was immersed in Christianity from a young age. He spent part of his youth in the United States, returned to Japan in his adolescence, and later established himself as an artist in New York.
A defining element of Matsuyama’s paintings is the color that radiates from them, with each shade carefully conceived. The work brings together an array of cultural influences, traditions, religions, historical and modern elements, and everyday objects and high culture. Each aspect is captured in rich, sometimes dramatic hues, creating a vivid tapestry that reflects the rapidly shifting nature of contemporary society. The artist hopes that visitors feel immersed in a world of color, with these diverse elements converging into a singular, compelling visual experience.
Tomokazu Matsuyama, We Met Thru Match.com (2016), H254 x W610 cm, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Through his interactions with creators across various disciplines and fields, Matsuyama has continually expanded his artistic practice. Always exploring how to capture and express both the everyday and the social within his art, Matsuyama believes that these spontaneous dialogues with his contemporaries resonate with the spirit of the times.
“Having worked for over 20 years in the cultural crossroads of New York and shaped by my roots in both Japan and the United States, this exhibition in Tokyo holds deep personal significance for me,” says Matsuyama. “I believe there are unique insights we can share across countries, languages, cultures, and generations as we navigate this era together. I hope visitors step into my world of artworks not only as observers but as participants and conversational partners, engaging directly with the pieces and finding their own connections.”
Tomokazu Matsuyama, Keep Fishin’ For Twilight (2017), H213.5 x W457.5 cm, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Tomokazu Matsuyama, Dancer (2022), H339 x W360 x D359 cm, Stainless Steel, Courtesy of the artist
About Tomokazu Matsuyama
Born in 1976 in Gifu, Japan, Matsuyama is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. His work spans painting, sculpture, and installation, organically blending and reimagining diverse elements–such as ancient and modern, figurative and abstract, Eastern and Western. His art reflects both his cross-cultural experiences and the evolving nature of contemporary society in our information-driven world. Major public art projects include the Bowery Mural (New York, USA, 2019), Hanao (JR Shinjuku Station East Square, Tokyo, 2020), and Wheels of Fortune (Meiji Shrine, Tokyo, 2020, part of the Jingu Gaien Art Festival).
Recent notable exhibitions include Mythologiques (Venice Biennale, 2024), MATSUYAMA Tomokazu: Fictional Landscape (Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, 2023), and MATSUYAMA Tomokazu: Fictional Landscape (Shanghai Powerlong Museum, 2023). Matsuyama’s work is also on view at Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris through February 2025.
About Azabudai Hills Gallery
Located within the newly inaugurated Azabudai Hills development complex near Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Azabudai Hills Gallery strives to contribute to the cultural heart of the urban landscape in which it lives. Officially opened in November 2023, the gallery has since showcased exhibitions by Olafur Eliasson and Alexander Calder. In addition to its regular exhibitions, the gallery is equipped to host a wide array of artistic expressions, from fine art installations to contemporary multimedia works. As a partner to the Mori Art Museum, the gallery will feature cutting-edge art initiatives curated by the Museum with the goal of establishing Azabudai Hills as a cultural landmark within Tokyo. For more information, go to azabudai-hills.com.
Organizers: Fuji Television Network, Azabudai Hills Gallery, KOTARO NUKAGA
In Collaboration With: MATSUYAMA STUDIO
Special Sponsors:
Sponsors: Investment Property Consultants Inc., JINS HOLDINGS Inc, Nanzando Holdings, and Moonshot Inc.
Official Website: www.tomokazu-matsuyama-firstlast.jp
Social Media: Instagram: matsuyama_firstlast
X (formerly Twitter): @FIRSTLAST2025
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FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Max Kruger-Dull
Tel: +1-212-675-1800
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