We’re excited to share that the Pérez Art Museum Miami has acquired Tomokazu Matsuyama’s painting Shadow White Breath (2021). Now on view as part of the institutions permanent collection, the piece was acquired following The Best Part About Us, Matsuyama’s debut solo exhibition with Kavi Gupta Gallery.
Shadow White Breath portrays two figures lounging in a parlor. Although the figures are indoors, Matsuyama has incorporated the natural world in various ways, including birds scattered throughout the room, a "Bob Ross"-esque painting on the wall, and a Chinese vase full of flowers on a table. The painting on the wall and the painting on the vase offer a juxtaposition of East and West, along with the TIME magazine on the floor with Taiwanese-American NBA player Jeremy Lin on its cover.
The vibrant mixture of visual patterns in the image brings together aesthetic styles from throughout time, and a great diversity of cultures. Curiosity is essential to Matsuyama’s practice, as he invites us into an ever-evolving, global cultural conversation across a complex web of memories, visual languages, histories, dreams, and expectations.
If you’re in town for Art Basel Miami Beach, be sure to see Matsuyama’s Shadow White Breath as part of the Perez Art Museum’s permanent collection!
