In His Gallery Debut, Ibuki Minami Challenges the Role of Algorithms Through Oil Paints at GOCA

Algorithms in art are something to be skeptical of. To what extent can the primal process of creation be calculated? In collaboration with the systematized, what does the work stand to lose? In the denial of chaos, the grip of the unknown, are we rejecting the nature of our own humanity? These are questions that artists, no matter the discipline, are grappling with. Their urgency increases by the minute. The tools and systems shapeshift, our experience becomes unrecognizable. We curse at the fog machine that’s choking us, forgetting that we built it with our bare hands.

The deceptive simplicity of Ibuki Minami’s paintings is a breath of fresh air. In his series of Algorithm paintings, unevenly layered strokes, sometimes colored, sometimes monochromatic, hide the mathematical complexity of what’s happening underneath. Minami first uses his own modified algorithms to create a “blueprint” for each painting, which he writes directly onto the canvas, and then decisively paints over. Minami’s quest for the self in the face of the digital age is effective because of its subtlety. His particular blend of Zen philosophy with Western transcendentalism comes at a critical moment for the meaning of creativity.

In this way Minami’s work seeks to clarify by obfuscating. The meaning of the painting is not on the canvas- for it might as well be a mirror which reflects back to us the half of ourselves we think is coherent, and conceals the half we’d rather not see- but in Minami’s process itself. It is in the series of steps of looking for an answer, creating a system to find them, and then retracting them for the sake of greater clarity. The praise of the self is in the acceptance of that which must remain unknown.

Minami’s first solo exhibition at the Gallery of Contemporary Art (GOCA), by Garde titled “Art Core (芸術の核)” is on view from May 8 through June 28 2025.