At times, Tokyoites appear to be some of the most poker-faced people on the planet. But what exactly is going on behind those apparently emotionless expressions? The art of Mikiko Kumazawa suggests maybe quite a lot.

Working in pencil on large sheets of paper, the 26-year-old graduate of Musashino Art University takes the objects, situations, scenes, and panoramas of everyday urban life as her subject matter and infuses this with a surreal, manic energy — creating wild, highly detailed drawings, like the seven works on display at a short-lived exhibition at the Setagaya Art Museum. The show, which honors the inaugural winners of the "Hisho" Setagaya Art Award, also includes the much lower-key art of twin-sister pairing Akiko and Masako Takada.

But, while the Takadas' twee mini-sculptures and videos could fit almost anywhere on the recent Micropop bandwagon, Kumazawa's art stands alone as a unique and powerful artistic expression. By suggesting stresses and suppressed emotions unleashed within the confines of the mind, Kumazawa's works point both outward to the chaos of the city as well as inward to the psychological realm.

"Kaiten Sushi" (2008) eviscerates salaryman sex culture with a selection of women being presented for the delectation of be-suited males — literally like pieces of sushi on a conveyor belt. Although the initial idea may be a little hackneyed, Kumazawa's attention to detail brings the whole fantastic scene to life, as we pick out hostesses, high school girls and cosplay (costume play) maids, and note the subtle attitudes and varying postures that the artist has given them.

This tour-de-force, however, is trumped by a stunning new work called "Panicked" (2009). This sweeping composition shows a number of manic-faced women (several naked and pregnant) in absurd poses, against the upended urban texture of Shibuya. It could be about many things — shopping, pregnancy, motherhood, or perceptions of female self worth — but the key is the humor and fiendish energy that melds it all together into a unified work of art.

Looking through the details and the unusual angles that make the banal and commonplace vivid again, we get a real sense of traveling through the emotionally charged corridors of someone's mind, observing how their fears and desires conflate and distort things. In these works, Kumazawa has created a style that is a perfect vehicle for exploring the internalized cityscapes in all of us.

The "Hisho" Art Award show at the Setagaya Art Museum runs till Nov 8, closed Nov. 2.; admission free; open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information visit www.setagayaartmuseum.or. jp/event/list.html#pe00237