Touch Gallery is honored to present the second solo exhibition by Japanese artist Yusuke Toda this October, “YUM and Friends of Old,” This exhibition sets its story at the intersection of light and color through a series of vivid scenes. The forms, hues, and brushstrokes on display recall the Impressionists’ pursuit of the transformations of color under shifting light. As Monet and Renoir once observed and painted the same landscape across different times of day—attentive to atmosphere, humidity, and the play of shadows—so too do these works seek to capture the perceptual experience of light in flux.

Following this lineage, the Neo-Impressionists and Divisionists further developed the technique of separating colors, placing tones side by side to achieve optical vibration and brilliance. With respect for that heritage, the brushwork and motifs here explore his own sensibility of layering, contrast, and reflected light.

In these paintings, the truths of light and color pursued by past masters are reframed through contemporary characters, resonating with the viewer’s own memories. As light and color intermingle, rebound, and unsettle the gaze, strata of time emerge upon the canvas. To step into this space is to reaffirm that painting still retains the power to shape moments of being together.