Toya Horiuchi is a Japanese painter, screenprinter, and graphic designer based in Brooklyn. Toya’s most recent solo show in New York, ‘Mountain Paintings’ is a series of abstract paintings depicting his interpretations of mountains. He displayed nine large scale paintings, a wall of 8x3 small scale paintings and a sand sculpture installation. His ‘Mountain Paintings’ ground the viewer in nature while forcing them into a new reality and color story. They are brightly colored, vibrant, and textural - introducing new layers upon each glance.
Toya was introduced to painting when he was about six years old in his hometown of Yokohama. When he expressed interest in the arts; his parents enrolled him into a local art class where his connection with art blossomed. His family owned a construction hardware store where they sold concrete, sand and tools. In his teens, Toya found an interest in street culture and began to teach himself graphic design. Shortly after he moved to Los Angeles to pursue and study art. After graduating school Toya moved to New York, LA was too slow paced for his taste. He moved on Christmas in 2012. He had no money, no career, no friends or family. All he had was his suitcase. Upon arriving in New York he sought out the studio of his favorite artist, Eric Elms, where he showed up uninvited. By chance Elms was preparing for a solo show in Tokyo and allowed Toya to assist him. This introduced Toya to his artistic practice and was a big turning point in his career. This showed Toya he was in the right place to pursue his dreams.
The first three years living in New York were difficult for Toya. The language barrier and the lack of social media made it hard for him to connect with people. He began designing, making, and handing out stickers to people he met. After a while he found his New York family and began to establish himself as a graphic designer. Toya reminisced about his first real client saying that he finally felt like a real artist. Around the same time he began to work for LQQK Studios where he learned how to silkscreen professionally. In 2019, Toya hosted his first solo show in Tokyo called ‘New York’. His first time displaying work in his home country was a huge success. He brought 33 silkscreen works and sold all of them. This was his major breakthrough into the art world.
Returning to New York after his show he wanted to experiment with new mediums and landed on spray paint. For months he attempted to find his voice with spray paint with no success. After a lucky mistake he created his first mountain painting. It immediately brought him back to his hometown and sparked his most recent body of work. His most recent paintings, many depicted in the Artist Series, are images of food and the process of making/procuring food. This series explores the connection between food, community and culture. Emphasizing the importance of food in all of our lives while reminding us the toil and pain that is involved in the food industry. Toya expressed his excitement of exploring more lifelike forms in his work and using new mediums such as charcoal and paint.