The term 'conceptual painting' was often used in the past. It was used as the most powerful weapon to severely criticize the paintings. When I decided “I'm going to do some conceptual painting”, that was the beginning of my painting. ―INAMINE Seiso

 Even if a child draws a symbolic paintings, its meaning is conveyed. INAMINE Seiso (1932-), found in it the roots and potential of representational painting, said "What you draw is also important, but how you draw it can be a more significant message" and trying to create a style of his own. This exhibition traces the transition of an artist who has painted more than 1,600 paintings in his more than 60 years career.
 

■ Chapter 1  Breaking Away from Realism

 After graduating from the University of the Ryukyus, Inamine will stay in Tokyo for a year. While visiting museums and looking at various paintings, he focused on the flatness of Japanese painting, which is different from Western painting. Then he began to think about breaking away from the academic realism and creating his own style.

■ Chapter 2  The Process of Sign

 Inamine focused on that even a conceptual painting, like a symbol painted by a young child, could be seen and understood immediately. Then he began to depict the Okinawan landscape in symbolic form, including the sea and B52 bombers.

■ Interlude   Experimental Room

 The small artworks are experimental room for Inamine's quest to create his own style. The murals that he began working on after the 1980s were a turning point that changed the style and composition of his artwork.

■ Chapter 3  From Plane to Line

 In the 1970s, Inamine returned to the flatness of Japanese painting, which was the starting point for his own style. In the course of trying with different forms of artwork, such as wall paintings, his expression has shifted from plane to line.

■ Chapter 4  Parallel World

In the 1990s, he began to divide his paintings into intricate sections, painting different times and spaces that coexist in parallel. Inamine says, "Everyday life is made up of a collection of various scenes," and he expresses this in his paintings.

■ Biography of INAMINE Seiso

 Born in 1932 in Naha City. In 1951, he entered the Department of Arts and Crafts at the University of the Ryukyus, and while still a student, he exhibited at the Okiten (The largest art exhibition in Okinawa) and began his painting career. He graduated from the University of the Ryukyus in 1955. Since his first solo exhibition in 1957, he has held many solo exhibitions up to the present day. He taught at the University of the Ryukyus from 1972 to 1998 and is an educator who has trained many art teachers. He received the Okinawa Prefecture Cultural Merit Award in 2018 and the Regional Cultural Merit Award in the Arts in 2019.