Jiro Osuga Taking Leave, 2025

London-based Jiro Osuga (b. 1968) was born in Tokyo and grew up in Japan and the UK. He studied at St. Martins, Chelsea, and the Royal College of Arts. Osuga is represented in various public collections, including Deutsche Bank AG, London; Museum of London; Paintings in Hospitals, London; and the Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Collection. 

One day earlier this year, I was painting a busy street scene when I grew tired of having to invent different faces for every figure in the crowd. For the last few months, I have expunged human beings from some of my paintings, instead 'peopling' them with plants, tubes of paint, and musical instruments behaving just like humans.