Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 3. In the portrait where the subject is lit from behind, creating that glowing rim of light, what did you hope viewers would notice first—the figure, the light, or the mood between them?
ANSWER 3. in italics
Question F: The halo depicted is a symbol of saints. I love painting portraits of saints! This is because I have always admired saints. I feel that if a painter masters their craft, they too can one day become a saint.
Katsuya Saito
Painter
MEDIUM: oils
BIO: I was born in Tokyo, Japan, and still live there. I did not receive formal art education. I loved drawing as a child, but I was bullied when I entered junior high school and stopped attending. In my late teens, I became addicted to drugs and ended up in a correctional facility. I learned painting from an art student who was volunteering at the facility. After leaving, when I was around 25, I felt an urge to paint, and decided to become a painter. I have been painting independently for about 35 years. In that sense, I consider my work to be outsider art. In 2017, I held my first solo exhibition at the Coop Gallery in Slovakia. Approximately 20 of my works are currently on display there. I always paint freehand.
INSTAGRAM: @Saiju_Katsuya
QUESTION 2: Your transitions between light and shadow feel especially intentional. What steps do you take—underpainting, color mixing, brush selection—to achieve those subtle gradations that shape the atmosphere of your pieces.
ANSWER 2: When I paint an oil painting, I first apply a medium to the canvas and then sketch it out. I don't use pencil or charcoal to sketch it out, but thinly dilute oil paint.
QUESTION 1. Your portfolio shows a steady evolution in depth, tone, and detail. When you reflect on your growth, what recent shift in your technique or mindset has most changed the way you paint?
ANSWER 1. As for the changes in my work, when I first started painting, I only painted self-portraits. Looking back, I think the act of painting for me at the time was an unconscious attempt to balance myself out of the conflict I felt with my inability to live well in real society, so I painted only self-portraits. Recently I have been painting many parts of the Red Curtain series, and when I first started painting these, I started out painting from the perspective of peering at society from inside the curtain. However, I think the portraits and self-portraits in the Red Curtain series that I am currently painting have an objective perspective.
Red Curtain Series - Saint, 2025, 72cm x 60 cm
Self-Portrait , oil, 1990, 53cm x 45cm
Red Curtain Series - New Japoism, 2015, 72cm x 60cm
All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Katsuya Saito.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.
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