COHJU, in collaboration with Marguo, Paris, presents a solo exhibition by Shinya Azuma (b. 1994, Osaka) in the Insights sector at Art Basel Hong Kong. Following acclaimed exhibitions in Shanghai and Paris, this presentation marks Azuma’s highly anticipated Hong Kong debut.
Azuma’s paintings center on the human figure as a site of psychological tension and quiet collapse. Using vivid, unmodulated color and simplified compositions, he depicts figures caught in awkward, unguarded moments—kneeling over a toilet or standing before an elongated shadow. These protagonists are neither heroic nor triumphant; they are self-conscious subjects inhabiting a world where traditional narratives of strength and certainty have dissolved.
Azuma’s scenes resist melodrama, allowing humor and discomfort to coexist. His work reflects a generation shaped by Japan’s post-bubble stagnation, where conventional ideals of achievement have lost their force. Rather than staging overt critique, Azuma internalizes these conditions, presenting vulnerability as a quietly persistent mode of being. Situated within the Insights sector, this presentation highlights a distinctly contemporary subjectivity—one defined by economic precarity and digital self-consciousness.
