Tomona Matsukawa

A silence at the dinner table. The space between two pillows. A piece of fruit split in two.

As Paris enters Art Basel week, Long Story Short presents What Slips By, an exhibition of new paintings by Japanese artist Tomona Matsukawa, who turns her attention to the unspoken dynamics between people.

Her process begins with listening. Through interviews with women about their lives, Matsukawa gathers fragments of conversation, everyday objects and scenes that later find their way into her paintings. Many of her titles borrow the interviewees’ own words, preserving something of their original voices while leaving their stories open to interpretation.

The number two runs quietly throughout the exhibition: two people, two pillows, a piece of fruit split in two. Set in bedrooms, restaurants and dining rooms, these familiar arrangements suggest intimacy without guaranteeing understanding. Two things can exist side by side and still remain apart.

Matsukawa’s restrained compositions offer no definitive account of what has happened or what someone might be feeling. Instead, they leave behind a trace of an encounter, a sense that something has passed between people without ever being fully expressed.

Amid the pace and noise of Art Basel week, What Slips By invites a different kind of attention: to the silences and ambiguities that resist easy interpretation. What slips by may be precisely what matters most.