Shigeki Matsuyama

From 1998, Shigeki Matsuyama worked as a freelance illustrator creating product illustrations and advertising. Immediately following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Matsuyama held a solo exhibition in Tokyo called UNEASINESS. This inspired him to deviate from his 13-year career as an illustrator and begin working as an artist so that he could create more conceptual work. Currently, he is working not only on tableaus, but also on objects and installations. When he’s creating, he often takes inspiration from the things around him; things like a sense of unease and distrust towards media like the Internet and TV, reactions towards them, and their effects, for example. The theme that runs throughout his works is that of modern people. He takes a pictorial approach to the changes brought about in the lives of modern people through the spread of smartphones and the Internet — and their effects on our consciousness — and expresses those ideas through his work.