Artist Lynn Matsuoka has never been able to avoid what tugs at her artistic sensibilities. But listening to that gravitational pull changed her life and drew her into a place this former fashion illustrator never expected: the Japanese sport of sumo, a subject matter halfway around the world from her home in New York City, and one that altered the very path she forged in her life.
Lynn’s introspective and detailed work has become renowned and highly respected for its behind-the-scenes view into the world of this sport, not typically open to those outside of it, let alone a female artist and one not Japanese by birth. But the way she depicted what she saw carefully, lovingly and with deep humanity afforded her access to places and spaces no one ever had, and perhaps still haven’t, in the traditional sumo wrestling realm of Japan. It’s created a rarefied body of work, and one that’s now on exclusive view at Stella Flame Gallery in Bridgehampton through the month of October.
Lynn Matsuoka holding a photo she shot of her former husband, Kazutomo Matsuoka, during his days as a sumo wrestler in Japan. (Photo credit: Amy Zavatto)
Lynn is the mother of Jesse and Tora Matsuoka, restaurateur siblings who took the helm of the sushi den Sen in Sag Harbor, which their Japanese father, Kazutomo Matsuoka—a former sumo wrestler who passed away in December 2023 — created as an ode to his homeland. This past Saturday, Lynn presented her work at Stella Flame alongside son Jesse, explaining the backstory of her rarefied works to a rapt group of art lovers who learned the details of her journey from New York to Japan and back.
In 1973, she was a young New York artist making her in the fashion world—and her evocative work was being noticed. So much so, that she was offered an opportunity to head to Japan, but not long that opportunity arose, was asked by CBS news to be the on-scene artist for the upcoming Watergate trials. Two big breaks, to say the least.
“I said, oh my god, I just signed a contract to go to Japan. And [CBS] asked when will you be back? And I told them January 7, and they said, great, because the trials start in February, you’ve got the job!,” Lynn recalls. “I said, ‘Great, I’ve got my dream job!’ I went to Japan, and I never came back.”
It started a path for the artist that’s lasted decades and, through the portal of her paintings, show a side of sumo that is only seen by those in its inner circles.
For Lynn, the draw was not so much the sport itself — she admits that in all forms, sports aren’t necessarily the thing that ignites her creativity. What does inspire her to pick up a pencil or a paint brush remains based on the thing that has inspired artists from the dawn of time: the human form.
“I never knew what [sumo] was and I’d never heard of it,” Lynn says. “But when I saw it, it’s like it grabbed me and it never let go.”
The stunning series of works on view, oil paintings done with such a delicate, assured hand that they appear as dead ringers for watercolor, show a world that the artist was afforded from a growing trust and respect between her and the sumo world.
Often, her son Jesse was in tow during these sketching sessions in the inner sanctums of sumo, with some of the greatest sumo wrestlers ordered by the petite artist to babysit Jesse while she worked.
“Just to be able to set foot in there. The majority of Japanese never get to set foot into the sumo dressing rooms. No woman is ever allowed in those areas,” says Jesse. “It was her New York attitude that pushed her way through, but it was her talent that allowed her to stay.”
Lynn Matsuoka’s sumo series will be on display at the Stella Flame Gallery (2385 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton, 631-899-4424) through the end of October. Pricing is available by request.
