Clio Art Fair Spotlight: a Review by Michiyoshi DEGUCHI

Tsering Dicky
Oct 8
2 min read

Artist Michiyoshi DEGUCHI

“I began my artistic practice under the influence of minimal art and conceptual art.

Although the work I have produced has been in several styles, I have consistently worked primarily with painting as my primary medium. Photography is an important material, as are paintings. However, I emphasize that I am neither a painter nor a photographer.

My early theme was to explore developments after the structure of painting had been perfected with the advent of minimalist painting.

The intention is also to carry on minimalist painting, but this does not mean to preserve the style of minimalist painting. Rather, it is to regard minimalist painting as the structural endpoint of all painting, to treat painting in general as a material, and to create a style in which the existence of painting can be appreciated from a new perspective.

One of my current attempts is to focus on the materiality of minimalist paintings.

The material of minimalist painting, which encompasses the entire history of the dialectic of painting, is first placed within the material of everyday space.

At this stage, no one will probably notice the existence of the painting. There will be no so-called art appreciator in sight. What anyone sees there is just a “small box” painted in a single color, no different from the materials that exist in the surrounding everyday space.

What I need to do at this stage is to photographically document the landscape, including the minimalist paintings, once removed from the context of art. It is a task to record the appearance and meaning of the minimalist paintings placed in the everyday space where various functional materials, living things, including people, exist.

The “small boxes” are then collected from the everyday space and photographed/recorded, and the above process is integrated to create a “material” with new meaning... where the context of art and the context of non-art intersect, The goal is to create a “material” with new meaning...where the art context and non-art context intersect...and present it to the viewer once again."

-Michiyoshi DEGUCHI

Michiyoshi DEGUCHI showcased his work in the past at the 18th edition of Clio Art Fair, held from May 1-4, 2025. Here is our short interview with the artist and a review of his experience at Clio Art Fair!

Michiyoshi, can you please describe your art in four words?

Dialectics, painting, photography, everyday life.

What inspires your art?

Everyday life.

How would you describe your experience at Clio Art Fair?

The opening night of Clio is lively. But it's when the flow of people thins out that the people who notice my work appear. They are quiet viewers. I like them for that.