Photo : Affiche Yu Nishimura
Yu Nishimura Towards a Sea
Lose yourself in Yu Nishimura’s haunting canvases, where seaside vistas collide with fragments of memory to create a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere. It is the perfect stop for those looking to contemplate the fleeting beauty of ordinary moments through a cinematic and painterly lens.
Lafayette Anticipations (Paris 4th)
About
Experience the meditative world of Yu Nishimura at Lafayette Anticipations with the exhibition Towards a Sea. From October 21, 2026, to January 3, 2027, explore a collection of oil and tempera paintings that blend human figures, nature, and coastal landscapes. Influenced by photographic techniques, Nishimura’s work reimagines traditional genres to create an atmosphere of quiet mystery and ephemeral beauty. This exhibition is open to all, completely free of charge, and fully accessible to wheelchair users, offering an immersive artistic journey in the heart of the 4th arrondissement of Paris.
The exhibition Towards a Sea highlights the artist's explorations of landscape, a space inhabited by presences and often bordered by the sea. Seen from a train window, hidden by trees or houses, the sea has accompanied Nishimura since his childhood. Conceived as a meditative walk, the exhibition is crossed by human and animal figures, and plant and mineral motifs that overlap with the marine element. In his works, as in our memories, the imaginary is added to the real in enigmatic representations, where places permeate and haunt the figures.
Working with oil and tempera, Nishimura transposes photographic and cinematographic principles into painting, while revisiting Western pictorial genres such as portraiture, landscape, and still life. Through effects of blur and superimposition, he imbues the works with a dreamlike and evanescent dimension, tinged with a certain strangeness. Attracted by several details at once, the eye slides from one motif to another, from a close-up portrait to a full-length silhouette, from a human face to an animal head, from a bicycle wheel to the reflections of clouds in the sea.
Towards a Sea bears witness to the artist's attention to the beauty of the ordinary and the infinitesimal, to the mysterious and complex dimension of beings and things. Each work speaks of the fleeting nature of what surrounds us and what passes through us, capturing a world in suspense.
Curator: Elsa Coustou
Cover image: Yu Nishimura, gaze, 2023, oil on canvas, 145.5 × 112 cm. Courtesy of the artist, Tantan Global Partners and Crèvecœur, Paris. Photo Alex Kostromin
Our take on this event
Curated by Elsa Coustou, the exhibition Towards a Sea presents a series of works by Yu Nishimura that delve into the relationship between memory and landscapes. Running until January 3, 2027, the display captures the artist’s lifelong fascination with the sea and the mysterious presence of living things within everyday spaces. By utilizing oil and tempera, Nishimura creates layered, dreamlike compositions that challenge the viewer’s perception of reality and form.
Drawing from both cinematic and photographic methods, the artist reinterprets traditional western themes such as still life, landscape, and portraiture. The works encourage a fluid viewing experience, where the eye shifts between human portraits, animal silhouettes, and natural elements. This focus on the beauty of the ordinary highlights the complexity and fleeting nature of our surrounding world.
The exhibition is hosted at Lafayette Anticipations and is open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, between 11:00 and 19:00. Admission is free, and the venue is equipped to welcome visitors in wheelchairs. Guests are invited to wander through this contemplative space at their own pace, engaging with the unique and evocative vision of the artist.
23°C
Weather forecast
Partiellement nuageux
