Artist: Keita Morimoto

Almine Rech New York, Tribeca presents 'To Nowhere and Back,' Keita Morimoto's first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Keita Morimoto’s paintings investigate the interplay of light and shadow, offering a reimagined perspective on the modern urban landscape. Rooted in classical techniques and infused with contemporary sensibilities, his works transform everyday scenes into cinematic tableaux that hover between reality and dream. Morimoto challenges viewers to uncover beauty in the mundane and magic in the overlooked by marrying meticulous observation with an otherworldly atmosphere. In 'To Nowhere and Back' at Almine Rech in New York City, he continues his exploration of light as a transformative force, turning the quotidian into the paranormal. Through the construction of liminal spaces, his paintings create thresholds between the concrete urban world and the ethereal realm of memory, inviting viewers to discover enchantment within the unnoticed.

Morimoto uses his paintings to cultivate a peculiar space between belonging and displacement many of us inhabit in the modern world. Neither strictly past nor present, neither entirely physical nor conceptual, Morimoto’s works transcend time and space, inviting viewers into a world that is at once familiar and otherworldly. At their core lies an abiding fascination with light—not merely as a visual medium but as a means of conveying emotion, crafting narratives, and bridging the mundane with the sublime. “The anonymous, liminal spaces in my paintings echo the feeling of never fully belonging,” Morimoto shares. “I’m drawn to the way emotions can transform a familiar setting into something entirely different, revealing deeper truths about the human experience.”

— Larry Ossei-Mensah, Curator and Co-founder of ARTNOIR.