The intricate works of Nobuyuki Matsubara convey both a sense of joy and fascination with the elements that make up cultural iconography. As a freelance fashion and graphic designer, Matsubara’s works fuse the plethora of influences that feed into the fashion world with elements from his native Japanese culture and the ‘foreign’ culture of New York where he studied. With their bright colors and playful surrealist juxtapositions, his collage prints are humorous, triggering an automatic smile. They explode outwards - insects, blossoms, landmarks, watches, all cascade towards the viewer. The elements that Matsubara uses are those that come to him intuitively. He collects together images that ‘look cool’ and a design emerges organically as he moves them around. This element of flux remains with the works, giving them a lightness and subtlety that lends depth to the individual elements.

Nobuyuki Matsubara lives and works in Tokyo, Japan, but always has the drive to experience and interact with different cultures.