Shuto Okayasu

Plato is pleased to present Shuto Okayasu's, Impermanence/無常, the artists second exhibition at the gallery.

Inspired by Japanese painting, visual culture, and poetry, as well as by cross-cultural exchanges between Japanese and Western artists, Okayasu created a series of works dedicated to the fleeting nature of life and the appreciation of its cyclical nature: the experience of parenthood, when the passage of time is clearly manifested through the child’s growth; endearing moments with beloved pets; seasons habitually changing the face of the city; a musical performance meant to be repeated yet never the same when done live.

In Impermanence/無常, Okayasu revisits his beloved themes—New York City living, dream space, and shared moments of suspended time—through the lens of a wiser, more experienced self, embracing change and cherishing every passing moment.

Shuto Okayasu is a visual artist based in New York. Okayasu’s paintings, drawings and sculptures reflect his everyday reality and dreams, mixing eastern and western sensibilities. His work records both mundane and transcendent aspects of urban living, and the often-unpredictable scenarios he encounters in New York City. Okayasu uses drawing and photography as a reference point for his patchworked painterly collages referencing such diverse sources as film, hip-hop culture, traditional Japanese painting and woodblock prints, manga, anime, abstract expressionism and European old masters.

Shuto Okayasu (b. 1990) received his BFA from Tokyo Zokei University. He has apprenticed with two of perhaps the most well-known Japanese contemporary artists outside of Japan: Takashi Murakami (2012-13, Saitama, Japan) and Tomokazu Matsuyama (2015-2021, New York). Okayasu has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including Plato, New York (2026, 2025, 2024); Tang Contemporary, Hong Kong (2024); Kyoto Tsutaya, Kyoto, Japan (2024); The Rockefeller Center, New York (2023); Oil Gallery Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan (2023); Ginza Tsutaya Ginza Six, Tokyo, Japan (2022); Space 776 Gallery, New York (2021, 2020, 2018) and Greenpoint Gallery, New York (2018), among others.