When invited to propose an artwork for the pavement of TOKYO TORCH Park in front of Tokiwabashi Tower, Code-a-Machine envisioned a transformation of the space through a monumental trompe-l’oeil, created in collaboration with contemporary artist Yoshino Momo. Yoshino’s artworks, also part of the Tokiwabashi Tower art collection, are distinguished by their illusionistic play of overlap and depth, despite being painted on entirely flat surfaces. They achieve a convincing sense of realism through the careful rendering of overlaps and shadows. Yoshino, employing such illusions, seamlessly bridges between the painted and the real physical space. She has, for example, created works that give the impression of a hole in the floor or an endlessly repeating series of neon windows. In this project, Yoshino’s illusionistic painting extends the river at the north end of TOKYO TORCH Park so that it appears to flow seamlessly through the entire site.

Creating a large-scale painting visible even from space is a challenging undertaking for an independent artist to accomplish alone. To support this endeavor, Code-a-Machine assisted with sketching, production, and on-site management, overseeing the entire process from concept development to completion, and facilitating close communication between the artist and the client. Yoshino and her assistants painted the 8 × 90 m area collaboratively, completing the project within a month despite two typhoons striking during that time.

The seed for such a street painting was already sown in Yoshino’s Daydream Drawing series, which she has been creating since around 2014. In this series, she overlays various trompe-l’oeil on photographs capturing city life, imagining dramatic transformations of the urban environments. At TOKYO TORCH Park, one of her daydreams became reality.

YOSHINO Momo

Yoshino creates trompe-l’oeil artworks that employ optical illusions; her two-dimensional paintings interact with the surrounding environment, transforming spaces in extraordinary, surreal ways. For TOKYO TORCH Tokiwabashi Tower 3F MY SHOKUDO Cafe, she painted five commissioned works using Origami as motifs.

Biography
1988 Born in Tokyo. Currently lives in Saitama, Japan.
2015 MFA Oil Painting Course, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 being at rin art association, Gunma
2017 Link at Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo
2015 Transformation at Hasu no hana, Tokyo

Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Art Project Takasaki 2020, Gunma
2020 Tennoz Art Festival 2020, Tokyo
2019 Inside and Outside of the Image at ANA Inter Continental Tokyo, Tokyo
2019 Correct Way of Distortion at KOGANEI ART SPOT Chateau 2F, Tokyo

Awards
2015 TURNER AWARD2014, Future prize, by Turner Color Works LTD.
　　　Kamiyama Foundation Art Support Program #1, Kamiyama prize
2014 TURNER AWARD2013, Future prize, by Turner Color Works LTD.
　　　ISHIBASHI Foundation GEIDAI Oil Painting Depatment Traveling Scholarship
2012 Tama Art University Graduation Works, Ichiro Fukuzawa prize
　　　GTS AWARD, Encouragement prize, by Tokyo University of the Arts
2009 via art 2009, KURATA prize by Yoichiro Kurata