Charleston presents the first UK institutional show of Izumi Kato’s work

Spokeswoman Leah Dennison said: “Opening this spring, the exhibition brings together Kato’s striking paintings and sculptural creations, where enigmatic figures inhabit a space between the physical and the spiritual, the human and the otherworldly.

“Alongside this exhibition, we are also presenting Inventing Post-Impressionism: Works from The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in the Wolfson Gallery, featuring works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Camille Pissarro.”

Izumi Kato (born in 1969 in Shimane, Japan, living in Tokyo) is a contemporary Japanese artist celebrated for his vibrant paintings and sculptural creations.

“This exhibition offers a unique exploration of Kato’s multidisciplinary practice, where enigmatic figures inhabit a liminal space between the physical and the spiritual, the human and the otherworldly. Kato’s creatures are as fascinating as they are strange. The works embody primal, universal human forms that often dissolve into the amorphic. He paints intuitively, often applying pigment directly to the canvas with his hands to maintain direct and precise control over his medium. Meanwhile, his sculptural work incorporates diverse materials, such as textiles, wood, and stone, which are carved, stitched, and collaged into artworks. Kato sees his sculptural practice as a way to deepen and challenge his understanding of what constitutes a painting.

“Bringing together painting and sculpture, including works being exhibited for the first time, this exhibition immerses visitors into Kato’s unique world of vibrant colour and bold forms.”

Izumi said: “I think I’m a painter in the classical tradition, and probably my favourite artists, like Francis Bacon, Van Gogh, and Itō Jakuchū, were also artists who were deeply versed in their traditions. I believe all these artists had their own essential feeling about what makes painting interesting so I’m looking for my own way, not trying to imitate them. In that sense, I think my work connects to traditional academic painting, and at the same time I am also sure it connects to the future.”

This exhibition will be shown alongside Inventing Post-Impressionism: Works from The Barber Institute of Fine Arts which will be shown in the Wolfson Gallery presenting works by artists including Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro.

The exhibition runs until November 2, Wednesday-Sunday/Bank Holiday Monday, 10am-5pm. The exhibition is held in the South Gallery.

Izumi Kato lives and works between Tokyo and Hong Kong. His birthplace, a region rich in Shinto traditions and mythologies, has shaped his distinctive visual language. Drawing on influences from primitive art, animist beliefs, and post-impressionist painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Kato’s work “embraces the essence of humanity through its simplified, universal forms and striking use of colour.”

The modernist home and studio of the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Charleston was a gathering point for some of the 20th century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers known collectively as the Bloomsbury group. It is where they came together to imagine society differently and has always been a place where art and experimental thinking are at the centre of everyday life.