Osamu Obi is a Japanese figure and portrait painter who work fairly exclusively in oil paints. From looking at his work quite a lot I have noticed he predominantly paints female figures and often has them looking away from him, out of a window for example or at something in the distance. The colours he uses a usually a little washed out yet rich and full in themselves. I have seen very few of his paintings where he uses a light source and instead opts for natural light perhaps from a window or a door leading outside. This gives his paintings an almost elegant feeling to them as the light and colours are less harsh due to the light being much whiter than a yellow or orange light source. It is also notable that in his paintings he doesn't leave out environments or the setting, and makes sure to include them as a natural frame for the figure he is focusing on, these are often in the form of; walls or a sofa and other household furniture, and this theme is evident throughout a lot of his work. In terms of the expression, they always come across as very intense or somber.
As previously mentioned the subject is often looking away from the camera with an sense of hopelessness or someone deep in thought. This type of pose draws you in because you begin to question the background of the subject, which is one of the things I like most about his work: his ability to capture personality and individualism. A popular pose for the figures in his work is having one or both arms stretched across their chest, as if they are protecting themselves, this makes the figures look anxious or nervous in my opinion. There are certain aspects of his work, and themes that run throughout that imply vulnerability, the pose and the inclusion of shadowy environment in combination with the nervous expression of his solitary female subjects makes me feel like he is keen to portray this in his work.
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