NEPENTHES NEW YORK PRESENTS : "DOUBLE SPEAK" BY TSUGUMI WADA

Inspired by George Orwell's 1984, DOUBLE SPEAK is TSUGUMI's response to his hypothesis that the world's balance is maintained by the existence of two (or more) complete opposites, such as sincerity & insincerity, majority & minority, sanity & insanity, order & chaos. The pieces in DOUBLE SPEAK embody recurring themes between these opposites, such as contradiction, frustration, irony, manipulation, distortion.

TSUGUMI WADA was born in 1974 and raised in Tokyo, Japan. In 1999 he transferred to Parsons School of Design in New York City.

After receiving a BFA in Communication Design, he became a partner of NYC's PROSPER gallery founded by artist Aaron "SHARP" Goodstone. In 2003, TSUGUMI established a second PROSPER location in Tokyo.

During their operation of PROSPER, SHARP and TSUGUMI produced a series of exhibitions that included Charlie Ahearn’s first Tokyo photo exhibition after Ahearn’s Wild Style Japan tour of 1983. They also curated FAFI’s first U.S. exhibition as well as those of renowned artists Chris “DAZE” Ellis, Dr. REVOLT, Ernie Paniccioli, Henry Chalfant, John “CRASH” Matos, Lisa Kahane, RAMMELLZEE, SEEN UA, STASH, WEST ONE, and ZEPHYR, among others.

TSUGUMI is currently on hiatus from PROSPER gallery and once again focusing on his own art.

To TSUGUMI, the world's balance is maintained by the existence of two (or more) complete opposites, such as sincerity & insincerity, majority & minority, sanity & insanity, order & chaos. As a result he is trying to visualize something that exists in the middle of between two (and more) things, such as contradiction, frustration, irony, manipulation, distortion.

While deepening cultural exchanges with each of the artists in his gallery, he started to create visual works based on his own voice through these experiences.

He begins his creation process by photographing his beloved East Village neighborhood and layers these with his collection of vintage tools and magazines into painted abstract shapes. He then converts the materials to digital, cutting out each single image down to the smallest drop of paint, and reconstructs them whole again.

He considers this process “sampling” and is inspired by Hip Hop/Street Culture. So far the final form of his pieces are Giclée print.

TSUGUMI currently lives and works in New York City.