板室温泉 大黒屋

Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya, we are pleased to present a solo exhibition by Teppei Soutome, Before Sunset, from 3 April to 26 April 2026. This marks his second solo exhibition at Daikokuya, following the one held in September 2022.

Based in Oyama City, Tochigi, Soutome is an artist who works primarily with painting, while also engaging with sculpture and photography. Rather than simply depicting something on a surface, he explores what painting can be by attending to the shape of the support, the relationship between materials, and the events that emerge in the process of making.

A consistent aspect of his practice is an effort to avoid overstatement, reducing elements to a minimum and focusing on what remains within the image.While his work may be described as minimal in approach, it does not close itself off; instead, it quietly opens towards the viewer’s perception, with a certain tactile presence. What appears there is not a fully resolved image, but something still in flux — a state in between, where traces of transition are held.

In recent years, Soutome has begun working with oil paint.In contrast to acrylic, which he has mainly used in the past, oil paint allows for a layering of time, as well as textures, bleeds, and a certain gloss. These qualities appear in the work as new depth and subtle movement. It may also be that, over time, the artist has come to approach the act of painting itself with a greater sense of ease.

The background of Soutome’s practice is rooted in the accumulation of time tied to place.Raised in Oyama City, where both his father and grandfather were painters, he continues to value time spent within familiar landscapes. In particular, he often visits the Watarase Retarding Basin, where he spends time simply being there, without any specific purpose.

Within such moments, light and air, the time spent travelling there, and the subtle presences that emerge from simply being in that place seem to run quietly through the foundation of his work.
Although shaped by a history marked by past events, the site today also holds a sense of stillness and calm, suggesting its unique and layered character.

This exhibition presents approximately twenty works, centred on new pieces made in 2026, alongside earlier works. It also includes works previously shown at CURATION ⇄ FAIR Tokyo, held earlier this year at Kudan House, offering a view into the current direction of Soutome’s practice.

The exhibition title, Before Sunset, points to that brief moment when light gradually fades.
Forms that appear clearly in daylight begin to lose their outlines, becoming indistinct. In that transition, we may find ourselves encountering a different kind of perception. Soutome’s paintings seem to quietly accompany such moments, appearing as forms that arise from these subtle shifts.

To stand before a painting may not be to understand it, but to remain, for a while, with something that has yet to find its words.
We hope this exhibition offers an opportunity to experience such a moment.

 

Watarase Retarding Basin: One of the largest retarding basins in Japan, spanning Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, and Ibaraki prefectures. It was formed as part of flood control measures following the Ashio Copper Mine pollution incident in the Meiji period. Today, it is known for its vast wetlands and open skies, and for the annual reed burning that takes place each spring.

Please see the reverse side.

 

 

■ Artist Statement

Noticing that it has grown dark outside, I hurriedly get into the car.
It takes about thirty minutes. On the way, I stop at a convenience store to buy a coffee and use the toilet.

It feels a little like arriving at a cinema — a slight sense of anticipation.
I like this time. It is quiet, and beautiful.

In the daytime, the scenery feels a little too bright; everything appears too clearly defined.
If translated into painting, it is like the distinct outlines of figuration in broad daylight, and the vague abstraction seen at dusk.
Perhaps the world has always moved through this gradient between figuration and abstraction.

Just as life is born, dies, and is born again, perhaps everything that happens in this world repeats itself over and over.
All I can do, I think, is to face those small irregularities — the slight noise within what appears to be the same landscape — and continue to record them, slowly and directly.

Before the sun sets, and everything disappears from view.

Teppei Soutome