Tomoo Gokita’s gray-scale paintings depict archetypal figures, such as a pin-up girl or a geisha, with their faces concealed. With a background in graphic design, the Tokyo-based artist was initially inspired to create art by his love of manga and animation. His paintings reflect these pop cultural influences, evoking iconic celebrity headshots and pornographic magazines. Executed with extreme technical precision, his erasure of the face through Neo-expressionistic flourishes or scraping gestures disturbs and adds a humorous element to his compositions.