Shun Okada was born in 1992 in Tokai-mura, in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan — a region that embodies what many consider the country’s original landscape. Yet Tokai-mura was also home to Japan’s first nuclear power plant, which turned the town rapidly into a new residential area.

It is against this backdrop that Okada developed a singular artistic sensibility. Drawing on his childhood, he infuses his work with what he calls “burdens” and “negative energy”. That creative path led to his first solo exhibition at Tav Gallery in 2019. He has exhibited regularly in Tokyo ever since.

His work stands out for its unusual relationship between the digital and the analogue. His technique consists of projecting glitched screens onto canvas and tracing them with a brush, filling in the missing parts by hand. What makes the work more compelling still is that Okada, born in 1992, chooses to focus on the Famicom and its glitches, a phenomenon emblematic of the 1980s. Executed with remarkable precision, his pieces manage to evoke a deep nostalgia while radiating considerable power.