LaClasse is an artist who weaves stories through seasonal flowers and trees. 

In this exhibition, we will display wreaths and swags that will decorate the end of year 2023. 

We hope you enjoy being invited into the deep winter forest.

Swag Lesson

December 1st and 3rd   from 1p.m./ 3p.m./5p.m.

90mins   6,000yen

Please be free to contact or make a reservation by email.

 * The artist is scheduled to be in the gallery on November 30 and December 1, 3, 6, 9, 10.

msb gallery is pleased to present “village record”, 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. Her works mainly depict imaginary villages and the people who live there. Recently, there has been an increase in painting in villages what she noticed after being handed down from old painters and craftsmen. 

We will display her new works in the small gallery space that will evoke the atmosphere of a room within the "Tower of Records," situated in the deep valley of the depicted 'village'. It would be grateful if you could feel the time of the distant past by looking at the village and the villagers, which were logged there.

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. Her works mainly depict imaginary villages and the people who live there.

merino participated in a long-term artist-in-residence program in Koganecho, Yokohama, Japan, for 10 years from January 2011.

In addition to producing tempera paintings, she has also provided numerous works for books and CD covers.

Awards

1997   Selected for the 1st Shinsei Exhibition, Shinseido, Tokyo, Japan

 　　   Received Grand Prize at the 1st ARTBOX Western Film Newcomer Award,

           ART BOX Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Exhibitions

2023   Group show at KOBE ART MARCHÉ, room 1345, msb gallery, Kobe, Japan

2022   merino exhibition, msb gallery, Tokyo, Japan

　　    Two-person exhibition; alma, Kotori Flower Shop, Tokyo, Japan

           Corridor in May, Bern Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

           Expression Exhibition of Small Works, Bern Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

2021   Yokohama Walking, Entrance Lobby Exhibition at Sakuragicho Washington 

           Hotel, Yokohama, Japan

2020   Koganecho Bazaar 2020, Hachibankan, Yokohama, Japan

2019   merino Solo Exhibition, Site-A Gallery, Yokohama, Japan

Provided Works

Cover art for “Time” by Eva Hoffmann, Misuzu Shobo

Cover picture for Harry Potter “Fukuro Tsushin VOL.3” Spica

Binding and cover art for “Living on the Beach of Space” Kaizosha

Cover art; “Lucia Gaston” 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”

*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".

msb gallery is pleased to present "Body", a solo exhibition by Yuji Kawana.

In this exhibition, Kawana, who has created abstract paintings using Japanese painting materials such as mineral pigments on Japanese paper, tried a composite technique in which he created human sculptures from resin clay and attached them onto them.

We hope that you will enjoy the group of works in new grounds that have advanced conventional forms of expression.

Artist statement

Until now, I have been creating abstract paintings using materials commonly found in Japanese paintings. I've been in search of a unique expression that sets my work apart from other abstract paintings. When the results started to emerge to some extent, I found myself tormented by a feeling of emptiness. Am I truly capturing the essence of the present? Do I desire the future? I believe I need the determination to return to the beginning and create anew. Where does this road lead? I can't help stepping into the way that appears to take me nowhere. 

msb gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Presence, a two-person exhibition by Seiichiro Osa and Yusuke Mitsufuji.

Biography 

msb gallery is pleased to present a photo exhibition "FOOTSTEPS IN SILENCE REDEFINED" by Naoko Inagaki Krell & Gene Krell.

Their photo book "FOOTSTEPS IN SILENCE," published in 2018, captures the street views of Hong Kong undergoing modification and the lives of its residents. The book consists of photographs taken over eight years starting from 2010. 

In this exhibition, they not only document the memories of old Hong Kong, where they have been distanced by the impact of Covid-19, but also reevaluate and redefine them with their current point of view.

We hope that you will enjoy their works that remind us of something important we have begun to forget in this ever-advancing era.

Biography 

Naoko Inagaki Krell

VMD, Design, Installation yet real passions are traveling and capturing daily life and culture through photography

Gene Krell

For 25 years Gene Krell served as Creative Director for Condé Nast Asia Pacific including Vogue and GQ magazines Japan, Korea.

Artisits Statement

Footsteps in Silence 

Redefined 

 ”FOOTSTEPS IN SILENCE” 2010-2018

The photo book is a collection of photographs documenting the city of Hong Kong over a period of about eight years beginning in 2010, inspired by a fascination with old Hong Kong, which exists in a corner of the metropolis.

Every time I visited there, I was shocked to see the disappearance of traditional culture and community, and I wanted to preserve this scenery before it disappears.

Then, during the period four years that I was unable to go, my memories changed.

In recent years, I feel that people's hearts and minds have been left behind in response to the technology that has advanced at a rapid pace.

Hong Kong is like a metaphor for this, and the old traditions touched that still dot my mind remind me of the culture and history that I have almost forgotten.

I have tried to express this through my work in order to pull together the threads of memory and convey the transience from a new perspective.

I hope you will enjoy "Redefined"

Naoko Inagaki Krell

“When the memories begin to fade“

It has been close to four years since Nao and I have traveled to HK (anywhere outside of Japan in fact) and as we would visit there as often as four times a year it does seem like an eternity, it was after all a second home.

Covid of course changed all that changed our lives changed in how we saw the world and in this our memories become increasingly faint increasingly blurred where the days become more difficult to distinguish.

TaiーO was that a Tues. or a Wed.?

If anything Covid made us realize how fortunate we were how free we were.

It was not long after the publication of our book “FOOTSTEPS IN SILENCE” that the vistas of old HK were in transition iconic landmarks replaced with mega towers, office blocks and mega malls.

Many of the places Nao photographed like the Bing Sutt “Hoi on Cafe“ relegated to history and it was at this point she decided that she would revisit the originals photos, rework them in a way in which to better reflect how time has influenced her impressions.

This exhibition is a result of that process and only hope to have you enjoy them.

Gene Krell

msb gallery is pleased to present “Exhibition of a few works: Holding a sick person”, a solo exhibition by Yuko Tada.

She has been working for international peace and cultural friendship through her paintings for many years.

In recent years, while taking care of her sick spouse and disappearing favorite art supplies, she has been working on her work, always with smile and spirit of challenge in unexpected circumstances. Many people with no borders are fascinated by her brilliant and lively personality, beautiful colors and cheerful works full of humor.

In this exhibition, we will mainly exhibit new works using oil pastels. Please take a look at the exhibition.

msb gallery is pleased to present “Weeds Specimens : Should’ve seen it, but haven’t ”, a solo exhibition by tagotto, Natsu Fukano.

Since 2019, she has been observing the herbs and ferns that grow naturally in her garden and creating specimens of them.

‘It is not for a special day that I enjoy working with my hands .

I put my thoughts into the fictitious word "tagotto" in order to have a will in my ordinary daily life.’

Various types of weeds appear with the changing seasons.  tagotto’s Weeds Specimens, which were picked from there and sewn stitch by stitch, represent a lovely world of small nature.

In this exhibition, we will mainly showcase works featuring spring herbaceous plants.

Please come and discover the charm of weeds, which are familiar to everyone if we take a closer look at them in our daily life.

msb gallery is pleased to present “Rhythm of the Earth”, a solo exhibition by Makiko Yamaguchi.

Colors such as yellow ocher and blue are applied to hemp paper, and organic shapes are drawn with pigments of white (shell lime), red, cobalt blue, and turquoise blue mixed with hemp fiber on the folded background. Particles of pigments flow and stay on the uneven support to form images, create layers, blur the foreground and background, and create a color space that exists just in each painting.

In Rhythm of the Earth, I imagine that human activity and nature are related to each other through rhythm. They are represented by tones, voices, movements of living things, water flow, waves, and emotions. My works express such a world.

In this exhibition, twenty paintings will be displayed side by side like a picture scroll. Please take this opportunity to appreciate the melody and breath played by color paintings. 

 The artist is schedule to be in the gallery on May 18, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28. 

Makiko Yamaguchi

1962　Born in Hiroshima
1986　Graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design Japanese Painting Course, 

            Department of Fine Arts, Tokyo　　　　

1992　Completed from Musashino Art University Research Students, Tokyo

2007　Stay in the UK by Japanese Agency for the Cultural Affair Scholarship

2008　Graduated MA at the University for the Creative Arts in the UK

           (Graphic Design＆Communication)

Solo exhibitions
2022   Makiko Yamaguchi Exhibition―Earth Spirit, GALERIE PARIS, Yokohama (’19)

2017   Between the trees, Fude no eki, Houkodou, Hiroshima

           Between the trees, GALLERY Ecru Forest, Mishima Shizuoka (’10, ’14)
           Between the trees, Gallery x Cafe Jalona, Tokyo (’12, ’14, ’15)
2012   Makiko Yamaguchi Exhibition, Gallery SATORU, Tokyo (’02,’03,’05,’10)
2007   Makiko Yamaguchi Exhibition― Early Works and Now, Hakudo-tei Gallery, Tokyo
2006   Makiko Yamaguchi Exhibition, Gallery Yamaguchi, Tokyo (’97,’99,’01,’04)
2000   HARAJUKU GALLERY, Tokyo
1995   Gallery Fukuyama, Tokyo (’91, ’93)
1991   Kumagai Morikazu Museum, Tokyo (’88)

Groupe exhibitions/Awards

2021   Pictorially yours,, Galerie Omotesando, Tokyo

2016   Dawn of the Forest, Bunkamura Box Gallery, Tokyo
2014   FACE 2014, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, Tokyo
2013   FACE THE FAR EAST Vol.2, Galerie Omotesando, Tokyo

2012   DOMANI The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo

           ART KYOTO, Kyoto International Conference Center, GALLERY Ecru Forest Booth, Kyoto
           Fumiko Omura Foundation Award, Joshibi University, Tokyo

2004   Master of Arts Design Exhibition, University for the Creative Arts, UK
           The eighth SHISEIDO ADSP, Selected, Tokyo
           HARUTONARI 7, Gallery Yamaguchi, Tokyo
           The 2nd NIKKEI Prize Exhibition of Japanese Painting, Hotel New Otani, Tokyo

1999   Makiko Yamaguchi / Takako Kutuzawa Exhibition, Gallery αM, Tokyo
1989   Exposicion Sho & Pintores Contemporaneos, Caisa de Barcelona, Spain

msb gallery is pleased to present “LIFE IS WONDERFUL”, a solo exhibition by PAPER BRUT.

Based in Niigata, they create paper and objects from the plants and bark around them. They have a wide range of works, and handle all processes from cultivating raw materials to designing.

PAPER BRUT, which means "raw paper" in French, creates forms that take advantage of the characteristics of natural plants with homage to traditional techniques.

In this exhibition, you will see PAPER BRUT's drawings on the paper made with the  mulberry they cultivated themselves. The motifs are familiar things in their lives.

Those works which have flat yet deep perspectives and warm line expressions are simple yet powerful, and bring a variety of emotional movements.

Just as people's activities and nature are closely related, the works that grow and are born at the same time become familiar with everyday life.

Please take a look at the exhibition, which is based on the theme of the beauty and joy of things we see in our life.

 *The artist is schedule to be in the gallery on April 26 and 27 from 12:00-17:00.  

msb gallery is pleased to present “viewpoint”, a solo exhibition by Ayane Aoshima.

Aoshima creates paintings while contemplating space, time and landscape, fascinated by J.M.W.Turner's expressions of light and color

She attempts to describe the flow of time and air by superimposing the pictorial space and the real landscape on the layers of lines and colors. 

The works presented in this exhibition focus on "viewpoint" that interest her in recent years such as the range of scenery she is looking at, the line of sight and the movements of the eyes by drawing in focus and out of focus areas on the picture. She has been trying to capture and express the impression or atmosphere that can be felt momentarily from light, wind and temperature.

We hope you will enjoy Aoshima’s experimental landscapes.

msb gallery is pleased to present “Etching Exhibition”, a solo exhibition by Kotaro Miura.

  ”It is said that some light reaches the earth after more than 10 billion years.

   The light that we see is from the past, and the light that is born now is in the future that we haven’t seen yet.

   The starry sky is an endless source of stories.

   I engraved such thoughts on a copper plate.

   I hope you would enjoy taking a look at my creations.”                       Kotaro Miura

We’re looking forward to receiving you.

Kotaro Miura

Born in 1986.

He mainly creates copperplate engravings and tempera paintings.

Fascinated by Rembrandt's intricate etchings, he began his copperplate engravings. He studied under Mr. Yotsuo Shirai, one of the master printers.

Using motifs such as ephemerality, eternity, celestial bodies, mythology, alchemy, and antiquity, he creates works using egg yolk tempera* and copperplate engraving which are known as a classic technique handed down from medieval Italy**.

*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.

**Medieval Italy : 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.  This period is called “Renaissance”. Botticelli and Fra’ Angelico are well known as painters of this period.

Artist Statement

I create works using the classic techniques such as "egg yolk tempera" and "copper engraving" that have been handed down from medieval Italy.

The themes are ephemeral, eternity, celestial bodies, mythology, alchemy, and antiquity.

Tempera paintings and copperplate engravings require a great deal of time and effort to complete a piece of work.

It is a process of work  deepening one's consciousness, while contemplating oneself by speaking to the material and layering paints on paper and board.

In a world filled with dizzyingly changing things, I feel that handwork that takes time and its charm is valuable in this age.

Preciousness that has been carefully woven by people in the distant past: it is also an important heart taught by materials, subjects, and techniques. 

No matter how much the world of digital and AI develops, the skill that hearts and servers have accumulated are the final sanctuary that makes people human.　

This exhibition mainly expresses the world of stars, celestial bodies, and constellations.

The time of a star is so long that it is unimaginable on the human time axis, and its light can take 10 billion years to reach the earth.

The light that is born "now" is a scenery that has not yet been seen, and I carved my thoughts on such a starry sky on a copper plate. 

The starry sky has always been a source of creativity and a gateway to endless stories.

Kotaro Miura

msb gallery is pleased to present a print exhibition centering on carborundum* etching works by French artist James Coignard.

Please enjoy his unique abstract world expressed with alphabets, engraved marks and symbols.

 * Carborundum

Developed in the United States in the 1960s, it is one of the printmaking techniques used extensively by Spanish artists such as Joan Miló, Antoni Clavé and Antoni Antoni Tàpies. 

Carborundum (silicon carbide), which is a very hard powder used as an abrasive for sandpaper, is mixed with the adhesive or sprinkled onto the copper plate, therefore the trait of the brush remains sterically. The brightness changes depending on the fineness of the particles. Artists often draw with their fingers.

James Coignard (1925-2008)

Born in Tours, France in 1925. He studied at L’École des Arts Décoratif in Nice; the south of France, and produced his works of oil painting, sculpture and print using techniques of carborundum* etching (copper engraving).

Inspired by long journeys to Mexico and the western part of the United States and the ancient caves of Altamira and Lascaux, , he explored the metaphysics of symbolism through alphabets, engraved marks and symbols to create his unique abstract world.

Based in Antibes, France, he worked under the belief that "paintings must be beautiful, docile and gentle to touch, and abundant to gaze"

He has held solo exhibitions around the world and some of his works are now a part of the collections of major museums around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, Dublin Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the British Museum, the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, Musée d’Histoire et d’Art in Luxembourg and many others.