Tokyo, Japan, March 8, 2025 – Azabudai Hills Gallery—a cultural hub within Azabudai Hills, based on the concept of “the entire city is a museum”—will host Tomokazu Matsuyama: FIRST LAST, the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Tokyo.
The exhibition will feature around 40 of Matsuyama’s works from the last decade, spanning painting, sculpture, and installation. A new large-scale series, First Last, will be presented to the public for the first time.

Through his use of vivid color and monumental scale and his mixing of cultures and time periods, the artist intends for viewers to contemplate the global realities of contemporary society. His work seeks to question important, sometimes divisive issues of the day, including political divides, social conflicts, and gender equality. Matsuyama hopes to foster new connections and empathy through art and strives to address the question, “What ultimately brings us fulfillment?”

Matsuyama’s new series First Last probes the paradoxical nature of contemporary society, where balance seems to be maintained through perpetual challenges—a society in which, as the artist puts it, “the last shall be first, and the first last.” These works reexamine the world through his distinctive background and perspective. Born in the mountain town of Hida Takayama in Gifu to Christian parents, Matsuyama was immersed in Christianity from a young age. He spent part of his youth in the United States, returned to Japan in his adolescence, and later established himself as an artist in New York.

A defining element of Matsuyama’s paintings is the color that radiates from them, with each shade carefully conceived. The work brings together an array of cultural influences, traditions, religions, historical and modern elements, and everyday objects and high culture. Each aspect is captured in rich, sometimes dramatic hues, creating a vivid tapestry that reflects the rapidly shifting nature of contemporary society. The artist hopes that visitors feel immersed in a world of color, with these diverse elements converging into a singular, compelling visual experience.

Through his interactions with creators across various disciplines and fields, Matsuyama has continually expanded his artistic practice. Always exploring how to capture and express both the everyday and the social within his art, Matsuyama believes that these spontaneous dialogues with his contemporaries resonate with the spirit of the times.

“Having worked for over 20 years in the cultural crossroads of New York and shaped by my roots in both Japan and the United States, this exhibition in Tokyo holds deep personal significance for me,” says Matsuyama. “I believe there are unique insights we can share across countries, languages, cultures, and generations as we navigate this era together. I hope visitors step into my world of artworks not only as observers but as participants and conversational partners, engaging directly with the pieces and finding their own connections.”