From 1998, he worked as a freelance illustrator creating product illustrations and advertising. Immediately following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, Matsuyama held a solo exhibition in Tokyo called UNEASINESS. This inspired him to deviate from his 13-year career as an illustrator and begin working as an artist, so that he could create more conceptual work. Currently, he is working not only on tableaus, but also on objets and installations.
"When I'm creating, I often take inspiration from the things around me; things like a sense of unease and distrust towards media like the Internet and TV, reactions towards them, and their effects, for example.
According to one study, "words only stimulate around 15% of memory-forming cells, whereas actual experience stimulates 95% of them."
With access to the Internet becoming widespread, the process of retrieving and subsequently forgetting information becomes a habit. Information, dissociated from personal experience, is harder to store in memory, resulting in people who are devoid of knowledge. And is it not the knowledge and memories gained through experiences that make our lives mentally and physically fulfilling?
The theme that runs throughout my works is that of "modern people."
I take a pictorial approach to the changes brought about in the lives of modern people through the spread of smartphones and the Internet — and their effects on our consciousness — and express those ideas through my work."