art space co-jin

KIMURA Masahiko

KIMURA began painting in earnest at “Atelier Yoohoo!!,” which was established within the facility in 2008. After selecting photographs and other motifs with the assistance of a support staff member, he begins his artwork using a 150-color set of colored pencils. KIMURA’s works, characterized by deep, rich colors born from a forceful touch that sometimes tears the paper, feature wedge-shaped patterns throughout. These patterns are affectionately called “cunei-cunei,” derived from the Latin word “cuneiform,” which means “wedge-shaped writing.” The combination of multiple colors in these patterns creates visual mixing, making the viewer perceive many times more colors than are actually used. His works have garnered high acclaim both domestically and internationally. He exhibited at the KOMOREBI exhibition (2017, France / Centre National des Arts “Lieu Unique”) and is set to be featured in art textbooks in 2025, attracting even more attention.

KOBAYASHI Joji

KOBAYASHI’s first experience with “Shinmei-Juku,” a welfare facility in Kyoto, was in 1975, and he has been a member from its founding. Since joining the painting class that began in 1980, painting has remained an integral part of his life to this day. He often paints scenes of nature, using color to express the soft spring air at the end of winter and the summer hues of the rainy season—a sense of the seasons that seems to arrive a little early. In recent years, he has incorporated a technique of filling the canvas with fine, mosaic-like (spiderweb-like) lines drawn with a ballpoint pen. “These intricate patterns emerge spontaneously”—they are neither letters nor depictions of anything specific. He maintains a unique style, using a variety of lines and drawing as his mood takes him. His rich sensitivity, which detects the subtle signs and atmospheres of daily life, is evident not only in his paintings but also in his haiku.

FUNAKI Nobuo

FUNAKI decides on his motifs several days in advance and spends his days intently working with his pen.
Until around 2017, his work featured bold outlines and a free-spirited style that made full use of the characteristics of oil-based markers. His canvases often included text such as his own name, car models, and manufacturers. After relocating his base a few years ago, he began using ballpoint pens more frequently; their fine lines increased the proportion of text, and through repetition, they sometimes completely cover the blank spaces. The text depicted sometimes refers to the image itself, while at other times it features the names of celebrities. There are also phrases like “This is a picture of a bird,” and one of the works’ charms is that the comma is rendered as an R symbol (indicating a registered trademark). There exists a unique process in which the text, having fulfilled its role as supplementary information to the image, transforms into the central subject of the artwork.