msb gallery is pleased to present “merino exhibition”, a solo exhibition by merino.
merino is a tempera artist based in Yokohama, Japan, who creates works using the technique of egg yolk tempera*, which is one of the classic painting techniques from the Italian Renaissance** period, starting with making a plaster based support. Her works mainly depict imaginary villages and the people who live there.
In this exhibition, we display the works from the “Villages” series developing the story of mysterious mountain and forests in which the villagers call “that Mountain” and nobody goes close by.
merino participated in a long-term artist-in-residence program in Koganecho, Yokohama for 10 years from January 2011.
In addition to producing tempera paintings, she has also provided numerous works for books and CD covers.
*Egg yolk tempera: A technique widely practiced in Western paintings since the 11th century, where pigments are dissolved into a mixture of eggs and vinegar to paint on a plaster base on a board.
**Italian Renaissance: From the mid 14th century to the mid 16th century, a cultural movement arose in Italy aiming to revive the learning and knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, and eventually spread to other European countries. Famous works of this period include Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "Primavera".
[Awards]
1997 Selected for the 1st Shinsei Exhibition, Shinseido, Tokyo
Received the 1st ARTBOX Western Film Newcomer Award Grand Prize, ART BOX GALLERY, Tokyo
[Exhibitions]
2022 Two-person exhibition, alma, Kotori Flower Shop, Tokyo
Corridor in May, Bern Art Gallery, Osaka
Expression Exhibition of Small Works, Bern Art Gallery, Osaka
2021 Yokohama Walking, Sakuragicho Washington Hotel Entrance Lobby Exhibition, Yokohama
2020 Koganecho Bazaar 2020, Hachibankan, Yokohama
2019 merino Solo Exhibition, Site-A Gallery, Yokohama
[Provided Works]
Cover art; "Time" by Eva Hoffmann , Misuzu Shobo,
Cover picture; Harry Potter "Fukuro Tsushin VOL.3" Spica
Binding and cover art; "Living on the Beach of Space" Kaizosha
Cover art; "Gaston Lucia" by Roger Faligot, Shogakukan
and many other bindings and illustrations
Company name logo production for Representative of UFO researcher Junichi Yaoi, "ORANGE SHIP Co., Ltd"
Logo production for Acoustic trio band "Ohfujitsubo"
Logo production for Acoustic ensemble "Handdlion"
msb gallery is pleased to present “Once upon a time”, a solo exhibition by Bernadette Helmers.
Bernadette is a collage artist based in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, who creates works using used old paper, books, and old materials that has been collected over time.
‘The small things that surround us, which make you happy, such as nature, being outside in the country, in the garden, reading books and listening to music. I try to capture and express those precious moments in my work.
I hope that the people in Japan will get joy and inspiration out of it through my work…’ Bernadette Helmers
msb gallery is pleased to present “Between the Lines”, a solo exhibition by Yusuke Mitsufuji.
Mitsufuji's works consist of repetitive processes of drawing lines on paper using a common pen and ruler. In this way, escaping from memory and its weathering, Mitsufuji’s lines are vividly fixed on the surface of the painting.
In the new group of works presented in this exhibition, Mitsufuji is challenging himself to draw vivid lines that are outside of his awareness by using pigmented ink, not limit to the dye technique he has used so far serving dye ink.
We hope you will enjoy Mitsufuji’s new lines spectacle, which consists of the mutual complement of control and uncontrollability.
Yusuke Mitsufujii - Biography
1982 Born in Osaka, Japan
2008 BFA, Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan
Solo Exhibitions
2014 Slow Rush, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Transparency, switch point, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Blinking Needle, TS4312, Tokyo, Japan
2022 Electric Shock, SHINBI GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibitions
2011 Chiyoda Art Festival 2011: 3331 Independant, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
2012 7th Daikokuya Contemporary Art Competition, Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya, Tochigi, Japan
7th New Ikebukuro Montparnasse : West Gate Street Excursion Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Wonder Seeds 2013, Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
2014 FUCHU OF MADNESS, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, Japan
2015 10th Daikokuya Contemporary Art Competition, Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya, Tochigi, Japan
The first decade of LOOP HOLE, Fuchu Green Plaza Annex Gallery / LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, Japan
2016 AFAF AWARDS 2016, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Artists Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
Power of a Picture vol.5, TS4312, Tokyo, Japan
SUPER OPEN STUDIO SOME THINKS: Rather be wavy than flat?, Art Laboratory Hashimoto, Kanagawa, Japan
2017 Interchangeable Potential, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Promised Form, 3331 ART FAIR (akibatamabi21), Tokyo, Japan
Special Edition 2018, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Dagaku of crops, ART TRACE Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
SUPER OPEN STUDIO SOME THINKS: 169.8cm, Art Laboratory Hashimoto, Kanagawa, Japan
2019 Endless Beginning, Akiba-Tamabi21, Tokyo, Japan
SANGYO, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Bussan of Art, San San San Ichi (akibatamabi21), Tokyo, Japan
Chicchai-no, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo, Japan
Face Up, Gallery 711, Tokyo, Japan
Artist Statement
When I was a boy, I caught about a hundred mackerel while using a sabiki rig. There were similar-looking hooks on the rig, and many similar-looking fish would bite them one after another. They were all "mackerel," but some with slightly larger eyes or slightly longer bodies, showing me their rich individual differences.
By the way, my art practice is nothing special. I am simply producing a piece of sheet music. I just put a pen on paper and play the piece of sheet music over and over again. Even the same type of paper varies in size. Even if their sizes are the same, there are individual differences.
You and I both have places to go and things we want to do when we wake up tomorrow. You can affirm your intention even if it is not special, interesting, or even meaningful. You can do so because there are always individual differences.
Now, let me show you how I do it.
Yusuke Mitsufuji
Photo by Kota Sasaki