NKSIN: VIEWER

Soka Art is honored to announce the upcoming solo exhibition VIEWER by Filipino-Japanese artist NKSIN, opening on August 9, 2025, at Soka Art Beijing. The exhibition will feature twelve of his newly created paintings and run until September 13, 2025.

  Text/Penny

NKSIN’s long-standing artistic focus is on the act of “viewing” itself—not merely on what we see, but on how we see, and how that act of seeing shapes and defines our relationships with others. In this series of work, the figures—emotionally reserved, identities ambiguous—are not simple objects of observation. Rather, they function as mirrors reflecting how some in this generation perform visibility yet remain fundamentally misunderstood.

Set against a rigorously restrained grayscale palette, NKSIN embeds small accents of vivid color—earbud wires, cigarettes, AirPods. These hues are understated, yet they immediately arrest the viewer’s gaze. The use of orange, straddling warning and warmth, operates like a visual cue in the silence of the gray field: it releases emotional resonance and offers the viewer an initial point of connection with the depicted figures. In a way, these chromatic highlights act like low-frequency signals—quiet yet insistent reminders of our collective yearning to be seen, even within reduction and silence.

This longing is manifested in NKSIN’s rare double-figure compositions. The subjects stand close to each other, yet remain disconnected—like strangers traveling silently side‑by‑side on a subway. This visual arrangement resists narrative about their relationship; instead, it reveals a contemporary sense of spatial alienation. In the words of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, modern relationships are “liquid”: rapidly formed and just as rapidly dissolved. We may occupy the same space, yet remain emotionally distant.

That sense of distance is further encoded in recurring motifs like headphones and cigarettes. These are not mere props, but psychological symbols: the cigarette as a tool for self‑soothing or emotional release, the headphones as personal devices that insulate one from external intrusion—tools that create private mental space within an over‑socialized environment. Through these signs, NKSIN incisively captures the defensive, detached posture so prevalent in contemporary life.

NKSIN’s application of grayscale spray paint is extraordinarily refined—brushstrokes vanish beneath layers of translucent tone. The figures emerge gradually through subtle gradations of light and shadow, as if appearing from a fog. This technique evokes the Renaissance “Sfumato”, where soft transitions replace harsh lines. The resulting haze is not only an aesthetic choice but also suggests an internalized suppression: emotions are deliberately muted, identities made fluid—implying that these figures might well be you or me.

Born in Japan and of Filipino descent, NKSIN inhabits a multicultural borderland. This lived experience imbues a heightened sensitivity to how identity is visually constructed and perceived. In earlier works, he depicted youthful figures whose soft features and visibly fluctuating expressions suggested transitional states of self‑searching. By contrast, in this new series we see a clear shift: expressions and postures are more composed and restrained; the overall tone is neutral, serene—suggesting a psychological maturation and elevation.

NKSIN’s gaze now moves beyond projecting personal emotion toward examining broader, more resonant phenomena: in our image-saturated era, how do we recognize each other? The visual cues we rely on—appearance, expression, posture—are already framed by societal and media narratives, guiding us to view and categorize others through preset lenses while compelling us to present ourselves within standardized norms.

Accordingly, the figures in his paintings no longer stand for individual identities, but rather represent simplified and labeled “visual personae”—familiar yet vague, concrete yet difficult to classify. They evoke the paradox of our generation: swiftly defined, yet increasingly deprived of space to be truly understood. Yet at the same time, these works serve as an invitation—amid the seemingly silent grayscale, might we learn again to truly see and to attempt understanding each other?