Tadasuke Jinno
Tadasuke Jinno is a Japanese visual artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and installations. Inspired by the torii gate in Japanese Shinto tradition—marking a transition from the ordinary—his works invite the viewer into a subtle shift of perception. At Art San Gallery, this quality found a particularly resonant form in Tokonoma I, where his work entered into dialogue with the alcove’s vertical structure, subdued light, and concentrated spatial presence.
Japanese visual artist
Paintings, sculptures, and installations
Known for thresholds, perception, and layered surfaces
Installation presented in the tokonoma at Art San Gallery
Artist Statement
"What all of my works have in common is "boundaries. The boundary I refer to is the gap between the viewer's perception and the sensation that has not yet been recognized.That boundary may disappear when a slight element of uncertainty is added to the existing sensation. My aim is to connect the viewer's perception with "something" that was previously unnoticed through the experience of visual illusions and physical sensations through my work. My artist practice is a combination of color, shape, composition, and material, expressed not only in visual paintings, but also in experiential installation art. For me, art is a challenge to change my values and how I perceive the perspectives I had before."
Artistic Practise
Tadasuke Jinno’s technique is built on layering, filtration, and controlled instability. Working with semi-transparent silk fabrics, mesh, and other veiling materials, he constructs surfaces that never fully settle into a single image. Patterns shift, blur, or vibrate as the viewer changes position, often producing moiré-like effects that make the work feel at once still and in motion. In some pieces, matte medium is applied directly onto translucent fabric so that what lies behind becomes softened or partially obscured, introducing a subtle tension between revelation and concealment. Rather than treating painting as a fixed frontal surface, Jinno uses these layered structures to create works that change with angle, light, and bodily presence, turning perception itself into an active part of the piece.
Biography
Tadasuke Jinno is a Japanese visual artist whose practice moves between painting, sculpture, and installation. After working in graphic design in Japan for more than a decade, he moved to New York in 2010 and studied painting at the Art Students League of New York. His career has developed through a series of international residencies, including NARS Foundation in Brooklyn in 2014, GlogauAIR in Berlin and Zaratan AIR in Lisbon in 2017, ChaNorth International Artists-in-Residence in New York in 2019, and Crosstown Arts in Memphis in 2020. He was the recipient of the ChaNorth Solo Show Award in 2020, and his work was selected for the permanent collection of the Art Students League of New York. In May 2023, after about fourteen years in New York, he returned to Japan and opened KOKU Contemporary Art Gallery in Gujo Hachiman, Gifu Prefecture, while continuing to develop his own artistic practice.
Frequently Asked Questions about Tadasuke Jinno
Who is Tadasuke Jinno?
Tadasuke Jinno is a Japanese visual artist whose practice moves between painting, sculpture, and installation. His work is centered on perception and on what he calls “boundaries” — the unstable threshold between recognition and uncertainty, reality and unreality.
What makes Tadasuke Jinno’s work unique?
What distinguishes Tadasuke Jinno’s work is the way it treats perception itself as material. Through layered surfaces, translucent fabrics, optical effects, and spatial construction, he creates works that shift with light, angle, and bodily presence, so that the image is never entirely fixed.
What does Tadasuke Jinno mean by “boundaries”?
For Tadasuke Jinno, “boundaries” refers to the thin and unstable line between what is recognized and what remains just beyond awareness. His work explores this threshold through subtle disruptions of vision, inviting the viewer to notice something that had not yet fully appeared.
What materials does Tadasuke Jinno use?
Tadasuke Jinno works with painting, layered fabrics, mesh, and other translucent materials. In many works, these elements are combined to create veiling, blur, or moiré-like effects that alter how the image is perceived.
How does Tadasuke Jinno create optical effects?
A key aspect of Tadasuke Jinno’s technique is layering semi-transparent materials so that the image shifts as the viewer moves. These overlapping structures can create patterns that appear to vibrate, blur, or dissolve, making the work change with angle, light, and physical presence.
Why is the idea of passage important in Tadasuke Jinno’s work?
Passage is central to Tadasuke Jinno’s practice because he approaches certain works as thresholds rather than fixed images. Inspired by the torii gate in Japanese Shinto tradition, he creates situations in which the viewer moves from ordinary seeing into a more unstable and attentive form of perception.
Is Tadasuke Jinno primarily a painter?
No. Although painting is an important part of his practice, Tadasuke Jinno also works in sculpture and installation. His art often extends beyond the surface into space, making the viewer’s movement and position part of the work itself.
Has Tadasuke Jinno exhibited internationally?
Yes. Tadasuke Jinno has developed his career across Japan, the United States, and Europe. He has participated in international residencies including NARS Foundation in Brooklyn, GlogauAIR in Berlin, Zaratan AIR in Lisbon, ChaNorth in New York, and Crosstown Arts in Memphis.
Has Tadasuke Jinno received awards or recognition?
Yes. Tadasuke Jinno received the ChaNorth Solo Show Award in 2020, and his work was selected for the permanent collection of the Art Students League of New York.
What is Tadasuke Jinno’s connection to Art San Gallery?
At Art San Gallery, Tadasuke Jinno’s work was presented in Tokonoma I, where its attention to passage, perception, and spatial transition entered into dialogue with the vertical structure and concentrated presence of the tokonoma alcove.