SHIKISAISHA GALLERY is pleased to present *copy and paste*, Reo Kikuchi’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
Having studied Japanese painting, Kikuchi has explored the possibilities of painting through the use of images within images, appropriating and reconfiguring existing visual material.
In the *copy and paste* series, which forms the focus of this exhibition, Kikuchi extracts fragments from existing paintings, digitally duplicates, repeats, and rearranges them, and then recreates the resulting compositions on canvas using acrylic paint.
The paintings bring together familiar figures, landscapes, and fragments of other artworks. Through repeated acts of copying and pasting, these images become detached from their original contexts, shifting and overlapping to form new compositions.
At a time when images can be instantly duplicated, manipulated, and shared, Kikuchi deliberately translates these digital operations into the slow, physical process of painting by hand. Even when the same image is painted repeatedly, subtle variations emerge through the movement of the brush and the layering of paint. What begins as mechanical reproduction becomes something distinct, shaped by the time, gestures, and inevitable irregularities of the human hand.
Moving between reproduction and hand-painted expression, repetition and difference, Kikuchi's practice invites us to reconsider what it means to paint in an age when images are continuously produced, reproduced, and consumed.
Through the *copy and paste* series, this exhibition explores how reproduced images take on a new presence when transformed into paintings.
SHIKISAISHA GALLERY is pleased to present *copy and paste*, Reo Kikuchi’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
Having studied Japanese painting, Kikuchi has explored the possibilities of painting through the use of images within images, appropriating and reconfiguring existing visual material.
In the *copy and paste* series, which forms the focus of this exhibition, Kikuchi extracts fragments from existing paintings, digitally duplicates, repeats, and rearranges them, and then recreates the resulting compositions on canvas using acrylic paint.
The paintings bring together familiar figures, landscapes, and fragments of other artworks. Through repeated acts of copying and pasting, these images become detached from their original contexts, shifting and overlapping to form new compositions.
At a time when images can be instantly duplicated, manipulated, and shared, Kikuchi deliberately translates these digital operations into the slow, physical process of painting by hand. Even when the same image is painted repeatedly, subtle variations emerge through the movement of the brush and the layering of paint. What begins as mechanical reproduction becomes something distinct, shaped by the time, gestures, and inevitable irregularities of the human hand.
Moving between reproduction and hand-painted expression, repetition and difference, Kikuchi's practice invites us to reconsider what it means to paint in an age when images are continuously produced, reproduced, and consumed.
Through the *copy and paste* series, this exhibition explores how reproduced images take on a new presence when transformed into paintings.
Reo Kikuchi
Reo Kikuchi
Completed his PhD at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Currently serves as an educational research assistant at the same institution.
His work reconfigures historical pictorial images,
examining the act of seeing itself.
Focusing on how painting is perceived and functions,
he explores the possibility of painting as something that emerges through its relationship with the viewer.
Reo Kikuchi
Completed his PhD at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Currently serves as an educational research assistant at the same institution.
His work reconfigures historical pictorial images,
examining the act of seeing itself.
Focusing on how painting is perceived and functions,
he explores the possibility of painting as something that emerges through its relationship with the viewer.
