Premio Combat Prize

Matsumoto’s artwork reflects the morphological transformations of our ever-evolving urban and ecological milieus that are attributed to a multitude of spatio-temporal phenomena influenced by social, economic and cultural factors. They are created as visual commentaries on speculative changes in notions of socities, cultures and ecosystems in the transient nature of constantly shifting topography and geology.
The artwork explores the hybrid technique combining both traditional media (ink, acrylic, graphite, and photo collage) and digital media (algorithmic processing, parametric modeling, data transcoding and image compositing with custom software ).
The varying scale, juxtaposition of biomorphic forms, intertwined textures, oblique projections and visual metamorphoses are employed as the multi-layered drawing methodologies to question and investigate the ubiquitous nature of urban meta-morphology, the eco-political reality of the Anthropocene epoch, the advancement of biomaterial technologies and their visual representation in the context of non-Euclidean configuration. Furthermore, the application of these techniques allow the work to transcend the boundaries between analog and digital media as well as between two- and multi-dimensional domains.
His compositional techniques imbue the work with what we see as the very essence of our socio-cultural environments beyond the conventional protocols of architectural and artistic formalities, and that they conjure up the synthetic possibilities within which the spatial and temporal variations of existing spatial semiotics emerge as the potential products of alchemical procedures.
Ryota Matsumoto is a principal and founder of an award-winning interdisciplinary design office, Ryota Matsumoto Studio. He is an artist, designer and urban planner. Born in Tokyo, he was raised in Hong Kong and Japan.
He received a Master of Architecture degree from University of Pennsylvania in 2007 after his studies at Architectural Association in London and Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art in early 90’s. Matsumoto has previously collaborated with a cofounder of the Metabolist Movement, Kisho Kurokawa, Arata Isozaki, Cesar Pelli, MIT Media Lab and Nihon Sekkei Inc. before establishing his office.
He presented his work for the 5th symposium of the Imaginaries of the Future at Cornell University in 2017 and currently serves as an adjunct lecturer of Transart institute, University of Plymouth.
Matsumoto is the recipient of Florence Biennale Mixed Media 2nd Place Award, Premio Ora Prize Italy 5th Edition, Premio Ora Prize Spain 1st Edition, Purchase Prize University of Texas at Tyler, Donkey Art Prize III Edition Finalist, Best of Show IGOA Toronto, Art Kudos Best of Show Award, Lynx International Prize Be Art Builder Award and Lumen Prize Finalist.
He was awarded the Gold Artist Prize from ArtAscent Journal, the 1st Place Prize from Exhibeo Art Magazine and the Award of Excellence from the Creative Quarterly Journal of Art and Design in 2015 and 2016.
His work, writings, and interviews were published in Kalubrt Magazine, University of North Carolina Wilmington Journal Palaver, the Journal of Wild Culture, Studio Visit Magazine, Fresh Paint Magazine, International Artist Magazine, Made In Mind Magazine, Arizona State University Journal Superstition Review, Creative Review, Next Nature Network, Carbon Culture Review, KooZA/rch, Supersonic Art, Component Design (Winka Dubbeldam ed.), Post Digital Aethetics (Berry and Dieter ed.) and Drawing Futures (The Bartlett UCL), among others.
Matsumoto’s artwork and architectural projects have been exhibited recently at Meadows Gallery University of Texas at Tyler, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery University of North Carolina Asheville, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Van Der Plas Gallery, Limner Gallery, the Cello Factory, Lux Art Gallery, Studio Montclair, Manifest gallery, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Transylvania University, Art Basel Miami, FILE Sao Paulo, and Arts and Heritage Centre Altrincham.
http://www.ryotamatsumoto.com