Mr. Matos Went To Buy Tomatoes

The story tells that a painter, Mr. Mi, walked out of his room and went to the vegetable market to buy tomatoes because he could not draw tomatoes. Unexpectedly, the shopping bag broke, tomatoes took root on the ground, and vines spread. I followed Mr. Mi through the streets and alleys, and finally arrived at his house. Then, Mr. Mi met... a cat?

It took a while for this story to come to fruition. Many emotions towards the city are hidden in it layer by layer. I have always thought that the reason why urban spaces are charming is the various subtle emotions hidden in them by the residents, whether it is tenement buildings, lighthouses, food stalls, markets, or... a cat?

Readers who get it are bound to find themselves in this book: the self that hides and has no social contact, the self that longs to connect with lost memories. When we make friends with new things, we see that they all come from The old soul you are familiar with is inexplicably moved. And "Mr. Mi Goes to Buy Tomatoes" hides these details.

(In this version, Mr. Matos Went to Buy Tomatoes is changed to the past tense, so Mr. Matos Went to Buy Tomatoes is now, how are you?)

"Small, stationary plants turn into huge, kinetic forces that explore the entire city and become a place where stories are played." - Fukaichi Kawai, "Macau Picture Book Event Book: Sample Cutouts from Tenement Houses"

"I like to look at the facades of tenement buildings, the gently dancing sun-baked quilts on the terrace, and the traces left by life. What I see every day is stored in my mind and becomes the materials and stories that come easily when I create. It is an inevitable scene in the world. When I conceived this exhibition, I wanted to enlarge Mr. Mi’s world. It would be interesting to enlarge the book-sized paintings. Thinking deeper, Mr. Mi’s world is exactly the environment I am in, and it is me. Putting it into the book, and now taking it out to look at it carefully, the process is a bit circuitous but it also explains the meaning of this work. What is painted is the sum of life." - Yang Xiaoman