AM recently had the pleasure of visiting with Tat Ito at the Queens, NY, studio that he shares with his assistant Yuyu Yang. Readers may remember that we thought that Ito was one of the standout new artists included in Joshua Liner Gallery’s excellent summer group show (covered). Well, Mr. Liner must have agreed with us, because Ito has a show with the gallery scheduled for February 2010, and from what we saw during our studio visit, it’s going to be a stunner.
Ito’s newest paintings continue with the themes and techniques used for the pieces we saw in the group show, but are even more intricate and accomplished. Each work starts with the application of metal leafing to the canvases, and then multiple layers of patterning and dozens of unique tiny figures are painstakingly painted over top.
Given Ito’s seeming desire to push the level of detail and technical difficulty of each subsequent painting, he has enlisted Yang – a talented painter in her own right – to help him put the finishing touches on his works. However, when Yang isn’t spending all her time assisting, she still can be found at the studio working on her own art. She will be participating in a group show at Williamsburg’s Jack The Pelican Presents later this month.
