The Dehumanization of Common Themes inSubway No.24

Upon a glance at this surrealist painting, viewers will often feel extremely disoriented and uneasy at the dehumanization of a typical city scene. The frozen atmosphere almost has a hypnotic sensation to it, causing you to get so disoriented that your face gets closer and closer to it until you are on the verge of getting sucked in. Here, in this painting titled Subway No.24 (1978), Masaaki Sato merges urban life with traditional Japanese art techniques to create themes of everyday life made unfamiliar.

To implement this theme, Sato uses repetitive geometry of round patterns on some but not all surfaces. This induces a theme that there is some, but not total, loss of control over order. Additionally, the signage remaining that is not transformed is something against routine, sticking out when it should not be. For example, the sign reading “2, 3” pops out from the stillness, keeping the frozen atmosphere alive. If it wasn’t for the occasional change in routine, the mass of alienation and dehumanization would overcome and win the fight over attracting the eye.