MASAMITSU SHIGETA

JEWELRY BOX

Exhibition dates: January 18 - February 24, 2024

Chelsea Grand Opening: Thursday, January 18th 6-8pm

SITUATIONS CHELSEA

515 W 20th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10010

SITUATIONS is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Masamitsu Shigeta titled Jewelry Box. The artist’s third exhibition with the gallery will inaugurate a new joint venture between SITUATIONS and NEW DISCRETIONS, located in Chelsea at 515 W 20th Street, Floor 3. Known for his paintings of urban landscapes in artist-made frames, this latest body of work refines his approach with an emphasis on the shapes and colors of the cities he’s walked around this year: Tokyo, New York, Dallas, and Seoul. Shigeta locates the sublime within scenes of daily life across these distinct locations.

Shigeta compares painting this show to making jewelry. The visual gems he finds on the street are mined and processed via the act of painting. Paying particular attention to light and form, a fiery red outdoor dining shed in New York pictured in A Red House (2023) recalls the curt geometry and radiant color of a faceted gemstone. Elegantly outstretched branches against a steel-toned sky suggest intricate silver work, while striped beams of city lights reflecting off of Seoul’s Hangang river glisten like scattered jewels. 

In 2023, the artist had the opportunity for an extended stay in his home country of Japan. Each morning, Shigeta would go for an hour-long walk around Tokyo. While absorbing his surroundings, he often noticed insects on their own daily routines. Ants, butterflies, praying mantises, and drone beetles consistently caught his eye with their reflective bodies and rich colors shimmering in the sunlight. Shigeta quickly forged a connection between the patterning of these creatures and elements of the built environments of the cities he’s recently resided in or visited.

Heightening the found beauty of his selected vignettes, Shigeta creates custom frames for each painting which respond directly to the picture they surround. A Park View in Dallas (2023) utilizes paint-splattered offcuts from Shigeta’s own work table as its frame, collapsing the divide between the intimacy of the artist’s studio and the public space depicted. A pink door panel alternately reveals and deliberately crops Shigeta’s painting A Tree Cover (2023), opening onto a street-level perspective of a tree before a towering red New York skyscraper. When closed, the panel’s cut-out obscures all but a surreal, cloud-like burst of foliage, focusing our attention on the simple yet poetic act of noticing the details amid the hurried pace of city life.

MASAMITSU SHIGETA (b. 1992, Tokyo, Japan) received his MFA from New York University (2022) and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY (2018). Recent solo exhibitions include 12.26, Dallas, TX (2023); Gaa Gallery, Cologne (2023); Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, CA (2022) and SITUATIONS, New York, NY (2022). Recent group exhibitions include Tutu Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2023);  SITUATIONS, New York, NY (2023); Cob Gallery, London (2023); The Hole, New York, NY (2023); Chinatown Soup Gallery, New York, NY (2022); and The Landing, Los Angeles, CA (2021), among others. In April 2023 the Dallas Museum of Art acquired a work by Shigeta through Dallas Art Fair acquisition Fund. Shigeta lives and works between Hoboken, NJ, and Tokyo, Japan.

SITUATIONS CHELSEA is open to the public Wed - Sat, 11AM - 6PM. On view at 515 W 20th Street, FL 3, is a solo exhibition of Masamitsu Shigeta: Jewelry Box, Jan 18 - Feb 24, 2024. 

SITUATIONS HENRY ST is open to the public Thurs - Sun, 12 - 6PM. On view at 127 Henry Street, is a solo exhibition of photographs by Karlheinz Weinberger: Subsequent Icons, Jan 11 - Feb 25, 2024.