Marriage 1986

Hiro Yamagata made this painting, titled ‘Marriage’ with what looks like acrylic on canvas. The colour palette is bold with an amazing intensity and saturation, which helps give it a poster-like quality, not unlike early video game graphics. This kind of painting, you just know it was made, one little daub at a time. Looking closer at the Cafe le Pont, you can see how Yamagata used small, meticulous strokes to build up the textures of the building, so you can almost feel the rough brickwork, you can see the awning and the people sitting at tables, the whole scene seems to shimmer with life. The water looks almost flat, like a sheet of glass or a swimming pool. Yamagata's use of bright colours and detailed, almost obsessive mark-making reminds me of the paintings of Yayoi Kusama. Both artists embrace a kind of joyful maximalism, creating worlds that are both visually stimulating and deeply personal. This painting is an invitation to see the world through Yamagata's eyes, a world where every detail is rendered with love and care.