Using techniques and materials generally considered to be Japanese painting, he creates two-dimensional works that deal with self-referential concepts such as art history itself and the origins of painting.
While sketching, which is the basis of Japanese-style painting, is the process of observing and depicting actual objects, he is interested in the viewpoint that photographs and images of the objects also exist as objects, and he tries to use the technique of simultaneously depicting images and their supports in paintings such as Gachuga (picture-within-a-picture) and Fusuma-e (sliding door paintings). He also draws objects that do not exist, such as ghosts, Jiangshi (Chinese zombies), and zombies, or draws existing historical art works and cultural assets, including their deterioration over time, in parallel with or fusing them with the components drawn in a cartoon or illustration style. Okamoto creates works that traverse different dimensions and materiality by incorporating multiple nested structures into the picture.
Shu Okamoto was born in Nara, Japan in 1995 and graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts with a master's degree in Japanese painting. Currently based in Kyoto, he works primarily with two-dimensional images with roots in cartoon and Japanese art. Major solo exhibitions include the 2019 Kiyosu City Haruhi Painting Triennial Artist Series Vol. 90: Shu Okamoto's exhibition "Dead Body in Position, Ghost Preparation" (Kiyosu City Haruhi Art Museum, Aichi, 2019), the solo exhibition "Dimensional Picnic" (Kyoto City University of Arts Gallery @KCUA, Kyoto, 2019), and group exhibitions including " Jet Stream Logic" (COHJU contemporary art, Kyoto, 2021) and "The Technology of Tacit Knowledge" (FabCafe Kyoto/MTRL KYOTO, Kyoto, 2019).