Minami Kobayashi (b.1989) is a Japanese artist based in London. Covering a significant period of development in her practice as a painter, this publication coincides with her second major solo exhibition, The Song of Jujubes, at Frestonian Gallery, London.

Kobayashi’s paintings depict familiar yet surreal scenes, created from an amalgamation of memories, places and ordinary people. In  her dream-like ambiguous narratives, nature, animals and humans are given equal status; her realms are symbiotic societies with multiple creatures. She captures transitory and fluctuating moments, depicting her protagonists in states of flux, vulnerability and openness. Rendered in a post-Impressionist palette, her compositions are a potent mix of playfulness and deeper themes of human and natural life.

Bringing together eleven new canvases, The Song of Jujubes takes its title from a song that the artist used to sing as a teenager in her hometown of Nagoya, Japan. It begins with a girl eating one jujube fruit every night, wondering what she will do when they are all gone. Imbued with a sense of nostalgia and loss, the works consider what ‘home’ means and the strong relationship between people and place.

This publication documents Kobayashi’s paintings chronologically, from her early works of 2016 to 2024. In a foreword, the Directors of Frestonian Gallery, Matt Incledon and Rollo Campbell, introduce the inner world of the artist and the themes of The Song of Jujubes.

In an interview with Lisa Wainwright, Kobayashi discusses her time studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her unique painting technique and the symbolism in her scenes. She also expands upon her artistic influences, including Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, the tenets of Buddhism, Tarot and the Nabi painters, such as Félix Vallotton, Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. In her essay ‘Temperature of  a Memory’, Laura Allsop analyses Kobayashi’s recent paintings in relation to memory and place, particularly the artist’s hometown of Nagoya.

Minami Kobayashi (b.1989, Nagoya, Japan) lives and works in London. She holds an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago (2018) and a BA in Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts (2016). Kobayashi makes figurative paintings that combine intimacy and mystery through their depictions of ordinary people, animals, and places that seem vaguely surreal and ever so slightly off-kilter.