from November 28 to December 8, 2024
12:00-19:00 -Last day until 17:00
Closed on Monday
msb gallery is pleased to present “Thunder and Excavator,” a solo exhibition by Hazuki Komatsu.
Komatsu’s works, created using ceramics and old cloth and featuring repeated small faces, release enormous energy, growing as if they were cells dividing and brimming with vitality.
The theme of this exhibition consists of the symbol of the elimination of what once had a tangible form, and it features a group of works in which Komatsu expresses the joy, fun, sadness, and loneliness that she herself has experienced through turning to "smiling faces."
We would be delighted to share this unforgettable and spectacular installation with all of you.
*The works are for display only. Booklet is available for sale.
Artist statement
Things that once had shape disappear and become invisible to the eye. At such times, when I knead clay or cut cloth and weave it, I feel like I can bring a little of it back to this world. I challenge myself to create works that can turn any shock into something positive.
Hazuki Komatsu
1991 Born in Kanagawa, Japan
2017 M.F.A., Tama Art University -Department of Crafts, Ceramics, Tokyo, Japan
Awards
2015 Haishkkei Art Award 2015
2014 The 17th Taro Okamoto Award -Special award
Solo exhibitions
2023 Climbing with Racoon, Room_412, Tokyo, Japan
2019 Cell Matrix, Shibata Etsuko Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Komatsu Familly the Great Move, Kaneko’s House, Kanagawa, Japan
2015 Hazuki Komatsu Solo Exhibition, GALLERY NATSUKA, Tokyo, Japan
At 2 A.M.Open the Shutters with Gramma, JINEN GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Great Reversal Tank, DESK/okumura, Tokyo, Japan
Past exhibitions
msb gallery is pleased to present “Outline of the Flame,” a solo exhibition by Taro Morimoto.
His paintings are created based on the data he has analyzed from images in his own way and colored with his unique techniques. As a result the images are simplified and expressed vaguely but clearly, as if one were looking at things underwater.
This exhibition will feature a series of works based on the theme of candle flames, transcending mere expressions of light and exploring what lies beyond the visible. Where will his flames that illuminates the darkness lead us?
We hope you enjoy the imagination that each of you discovers in his quiet lights.
Artist Statement
Candlelit flame
The reason I once again decided to take up the subject of candle flames this year was because not only had I seen a scene on the news of a small flame being lit for someone, but I had also actually lit a flame for my own family, and the image of a flame remained in my mind. I have created works using the motif of a candle flame before, and at that time I was inspired by the book "The Flame of a Candle" by the French philosopher of science and poet Gaston Bachelard.
His poetic imagery of a candle flame has given rise to a variety of interpretations, based on citations from various sources, such as comparing the small flame's light, which easily lights up and goes out, to human existence, or reading a positive will into the phenomenon of a flame that quickly bounces back up even when disturbed by the wind.
I’d like to explore and consider the power of imagination contained within such images by creating visual representations. Up until now, I have created paintings by making sketches based on familiar images, such as printed matter or photographs I’ve taken. However, this time, I’ve added a new dimension to my work by seeking inspiration from masterpieces as subjects to depict.
While creating a rough sketch in Photoshop, I looked back at snapshots of lit candles I had taken with my smartphone, as well as images I had worked on in the past but hadn’t turned into paintings. Suddenly, I was reminded of the candle and lamp flames painted by Georges de La Tour. These works, created around 400 years ago, continue to serve as light sources in his paintings, illuminating the people and objects in the room.
What would become visible if I were to take the flames I see now, and the flames once lit by artists, as images and paint them again? As I did before, I started by removing the concrete texture from the photographs and paintings, flattening the images, and re-capturing their contours and color planes to eliminate as much of my own subjectivity as possible. I explored the shapes and colors hidden there, and through my work I sought to see if I could present something different that had not been seen before.
What will the images brought about by the flame and appearing before our eyes illuminate in the future? I would like to gaze upon the flame flickering between the past and the present in the intimate space of the gallery.
Taro Morimoto
Taro Morimoto
1969 Born in Okayama, Japan
1994 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, Faculty of Art and Design, Department of Design
1995 Completed research student at Tokyo Zokei University
Solo Exhibitions
2022 L'étang de solitude, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2020 Neutral tones, void＋, Tokyo
2019 Corresponding Interior, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2017 Sérénité, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2016 L'image est bonheur, switch point, Tokyo
2015 Vestiges, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2012 The Edge of Images -Somewhere Else, Existing Here, Store Front, Tokyo
2010 Medium, switch point, Tokyo
2009 In between, Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, Okayama
2008 Flower & Hair, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2005 Painting / Embroidery, Space Kobo & Tomo, Tokyo
2005 Project N 23 Taro Morimoto, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
2004 After Image, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2004 Tour de Fleurs -broderie- [Café art project vol.5], Mori Art Museum Staff Café, Tokyo
2004 Tour de Fleurs -broderie-, Restaurant Pietro, Tokyo ; Café du Sourire Shiki, Okayama
2003 Souvenir, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2002 Reminder, Space Kobo & Tomo, Tokyo
2001 Recollection, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
1999 Taro Morimoto -Artists for the Next decade 1999, Gallery Hinoki, Tokyo
1998 Taro Morimoto, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
Group Exhibitions
2021 12 Flowers, art space kimura ASK?, Tokyo
2021 Collection x Taro Morimoto, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2020 Place x Place, Gallery TAGA 2, Tokyo
2019 Nana Matsubara, Taro Morimoto, Books Sanseido in Seijo Corty, Tokyo
2016 "Footprints" [lithographs printed by Satoru Itazu], Museum Haus Kasuya, Kanagawa
2014 Chain of Life, chain of image, Mori Ogai Memorial Museum, Tokyo
2014 Intersection Point -Takao Okamura Project & 13 Artists, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2013 Borders, HARMAS Gallery, Tokyo
2012 Unknown Life -View [Series no.3], Waseda Scott Hall Gallery, Tokyo
2012 Unknown Voice [Series extra], Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo
2012 Unknown Surface [Series no.2], Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2010 WIND-OW, MA2 Gallery, Tokyo
2009 Autumn Songs, Variété Honroku, Tokyo
2008 Art in Time & Style Midtown Vol.4, Time & Style Midtown, Tokyo
2008 Ex-Surface, Artlantico Gallery, Tokyo
2007 Flowers, or not? Wu Yung Chieh, Taro Morimoto, VT Artsalon, Taipei, Taiwan
2007 Opening up New Horizons, PYO Gallery Beijing, Beijing, China
2007 Paradise of Illusion, MA2 Gallery, Tokyo
2007 Flowers, or not? Wu Yung Chieh, Taro Morimoto, Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo
2006 The 3rd Fuchu Biennial, On Beauty and Value, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo
2006 10th Anniversary Exhibition of the Takao Okamura Project, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
2005 Reality Check, Tokyo Zokei University Yokoyama Memorial Manzù Art Museum, Tokyo
2004 Art By Xerox Jyugemu Exhibition'04 Super Multiple Art Project, Contemporary Art Factory, Tokyo
2003 Artists by Artists, Mori Arts Center, Tokyo
2002 Ten-Sen, Tokyo Design Center, Tokyo
2000 Tsuyoshi Nagaoka, Taro Morimoto, SS-Art, Tokyo
1999 Yoko Iwasaki, Yoichi Sano, Taro Morimoto, Gallery Hinoki, Tokyo
1998 Art By Xerox Jyugemu Exhibition'98 End of the century reproduction case, Contemporary Art Factory, Tokyo
1996 Yoichi Sano, Taro Morimoto, Ayumi Gallery, Tokyo
1996 JACA'96 Japan Visual Art Special Exhibition’96, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo
1995 JACA'95 Japan Visual Art Exhibition, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo
1994 JACA'94 Japan Visual Art Exhibition, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo
1994 Tokyo Design Center Award '94, Tokyo Design Center, Tokyo
msb gallery is pleased to present "Perspective," a solo exhibition by Yutaro Aoki.
Using natural wood as material, Aoki creates architectural works that combine straight lines and curves.
In this exhibition, he focuses on the viewpoint, attempting to influence the shape and impression of his works.
We hope you enjoy the forms expressed by the artist through your own perspective.
Artist Statement
When standing inside a curved structure such as a round column or dome, an arc spreads out from that point. This work, titled "Inside the Arc," expresses the state of the viewer being inside the arc. The viewers' imagination to the outside from the inside perspective changes due to the misalignment from reality, and the sculpture exists as an element that sees through each one's imagination.
Yutaro Aoki
1988 Born in Shizuoka
2011 B.F.A Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan
2018 M.F.A Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan
Solo exhibitions
2024 New habits, TS4312, Tokyo, Japan
2023 a whitestone for the wits, KATSUYA SUSUKI GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
2021 double, MONO.LOGUES, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Nomad Life, art gallery closet, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Quien sabe, Itamuro Hotel Daikokuya, Tochigi, Japan
2019 Puerta del cielo, Studio Block M74, Mexico City, Mexico
2018 Madera para cosechar, CASA EQUIS, Mexico City, Mexico
2017 Oasis, nap gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016 YUTARO AOKI Exhibition, Itamuro Hotel Daikokuya, Tochigi, Japan
2015 YUTARO AOKI Exhibition, Gallery UDONOS, Shizuoka, Japan
YUTARO AOKI Exhibition, Gallery GEN, Tokyo, Japan
Group exhibitions
2023 Mitsumeru, Ryodenji, Tokyo, Japan
MATSUMOTO Architecture + Art Festival, Shitamachikaikan, Nagano, Japan
2022 MONO.LOGUES at GASBON #1, GASBON METABOLISM, Yamanashi, Japan
Onsen Confidential, AOYAMA | MEGURO, Tokyo, Japan
CORE part7, tagboatgallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Diagonal and the Wind, KATSUYA SUSUKI GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
tagboat Art Fair 2022, TOKYO PORTCITY TAKESHIBA, Tokyo, Japan
grid, biscuit gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2021 TAGBOAT AWARD SELECTS, tagboatgallery , Tokyo, Japan
The 16th TAGBOAT AWARD, Shibuya Hikarie CUBE1,2,3, Tokyo, Japan
Mitsumeru, FEI ART MUSEUM, Kanagawa, Japan
2019 El castillo de los ladrillos rotos, guadalajara90210, Mexico City, Mexico
El jardin de Galileo, guadalajara90210, Mexico City, Mexico
2018 Prairie Exhibition, Gallery KINGYO, Tokyo, Japan
Shibuya Art Festival 2017, Bunkamura Wall Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2017 Shibuya Art Festival 2017, Shibuya Station, Tokyo, Japan
Green and Road Art Exhibition, Kurokawa Green Area, Kanagawa, Japan
Prairie Exhibition, Gallery KINGYO, Tokyo, Japan
2015 LOGGER Exhibition, art sea, Kanagawa, Japan
Mitsumeru, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
Daikokuya Contemporary Art Raise Exhibition, Itamuro Hotel Daikokuya, Tochigi, Japan
2014 The 50th Kanagawa Art Exhibition, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
The 2nd Prairie Exhibition, Gallery KINGYO, Tokyo, Japan
The 2nd Derby Exhibition, Gallery KINGYO, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Yutaro Aoki x Mika Moriya Exhibition, Vision's, Tokyo, Japan
WORKS -8 Persons Work Exhibition- , Hiratsuka museum of art, Kanagawa
Awards
2021 The 16th TAGBOAT AWARD, Special Jury Award from Mr.Tomio Koyama
2017 Shibuya Art Festival 2017, Special Jury Award from Mr.Tomio Koyama
2015 Daikokuya Contemporary Art Raise Exhibition, Grand Prize
msb gallery is pleased to present "Through the Fence," a solo exhibition by Yusuke Mitsufuji.
His recent works are created through the repetitive process of drawing lines on paper with an ordinary pen and ruler.
We invite you to experience the tension of these rule-based lines and their relationship with the surrounding white space by observing them closely.
We hope you enjoy the exhibition.
Artist Statement
Through the Fence
One day when I was in high school, my best friend and I decided to go straight no matter what from our school on top of the mountain to the station at the bottom.
After passing through the irrigation canal and over the dam, we were confronted by a large apartment complex.
As we scrambled up the fence facing the cliff, I found myself looking at the Osaka Plain in the distance.
March, 2024
Yusuke Mitsufuji
Yusuke Mitsufuji
1982 Born in Osaka
2008 BFA, Tama Art University, Tokyo
Solo exhibitions
2024 Moving Blueprint, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo
2023 Between the Lines (cont.), TS4312, Tokyo
2022 Between the Lines, msb gallery, Tokyo
2022 Electric Shock, SHINBI GALLERY, Tokyo
2020 Blinking Needle, TS4312, Tokyo
2016 Transparency, switch point, Tokyo
2014 Slow Rush, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
Group exhibitions
2023 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Studio Cowhouse, Kanagawa
2023 Presence, msb gallery, Tokyo
2023 Kobe Art Marche 2023, Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel/msb gallery, Kobe
2023 10th Anniversary Exhibition, TS4312, Tokyo
2020 Face Up, Gallery 711, Tokyo
2020 Chicchai-no, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
2020 Bussan of Art,San San San Ichi, akibatamabi21, Tokyo
2019 SANGYO, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo
2019 Endless Beginning, akibatamabi21, Tokyo
2018 Dagaku of crops, ART TRACE Gallery, Tokyo
2018 SUPER OPEN STUDIO SOME THINKS: 169.8cm, Art Laboratory Hashimoto, Kanagawa
2018 Special Edition 2018, RISE GALLERY, Tokyo
2018 Promised Form,3331 ART FAIR, akibatamabi21, Tokyo
2017 Interchangeable Potential, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
2016 SUPER OPEN STUDIO SOME THINKS: Rather be wavy than flat?, Art Laboratory Hashimoto, Kanagawa
2016 AFAF AWARDS 2016, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Artists Gallery, Fukuoka
2016 Power of a painting vol.5, TS4312, Tokyo
2015 The first decade of LOOP HOLE, Fuchu Green Plaza Anex Gallery/LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
2015 10th Daikokuya Contemporary Art Competition, Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya, Tochigi
2014 FUCHU OF MADNESS, LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
2013 Wonder Seeds 2013, Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo
msb gallery is pleased to present "Assumptio Beatae Mariae Virginis," a solo exhibition by Aiko Hino, also known as Madame Soleil d’Or.
For this exhibition, Madame Soleil d’Or has taken the opportunity to reconsider the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a tradition that has been passed down through the ages, and has created all hand-drawn original manuscript-style works as well as complete copies of several ancient manuscripts.
We hope you will enjoy the purity and beauty of these works, expressed in her unique style.
Aiko Hino, Madame Soleil d’Or
Based in Tokyo, Japan, she works as an illustrator and calligraphy artist.
She does copy ancient pieces of books and also creates her original works, book illustrations, logos, shop cards, using ink and pigments on paper, sometimes depicting with bird wing, gold leaf and parchment.
In 2006 she began calligraphy under Maestro Muliere Gachini and in 2009 Saint chant at St.Gregorio house.
Since 2021, she has been participating in group exhibitions in shop-galleries such as Tentekido, cafe norn, salon de SERAPHIM and many others.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 art and antique LECURIO, Tokyo, Japan
Library Antos Bookstore of Plants, Tokyo, Japan
2018 Shinonome tea house at Jiyu Gakuen, Tokyo, Japan
2015 Bible house in Minami-Aoyama shop, Tokyo, Japan
2009 Librar Keiyu-do, Tokyo, Japan
Provided Works
Illustration for CD cover of Orland di Rasso “Passion of Mataï” by Beata Musica Tokiensis
Label illustration for memorial original tea package of Library
Antos Bookstore of Plants
msb gallery is pleased to present “Sleeping, Holding,” a solo exhibition by Ryota Shiibashi.
This exhibition will feature new works from Shiibashi's mountain-themed body of work, which he has been creating since 2016.
He climbs mountains himself, experiences their bursting vitality, and brings home a part of that experience in the form of a photograph. Memories of the mountains, cut out as if by drawing a line, are reconstructed using collage techniques and breathed new life into.
We hope you will enjoy immersing yourself in the works, which fill the entire small space, and encountering fragments of his memories.
Ryota Shiibashi
A photographer & sculptor with a degree in Fine Arts from Bunsei University of Arts. Born in 1979 and raised in a farmstead on the outskirts of the city, he continues to live and work in Yokohama. An invitation to scale Mount Karamatsu in the Northern Alps of Japan during his late twenties – in the company of his uncle – led to a passion for further climbing and an enduring fascination with the alpine scenery. This continues to inform his work, which has transitioned into hand-crafted delicate collage techniques since 2016. To date, his ventures further afield have included artist residencies in both Gwangju and Beijing.
Award
2022 “Independent Tokyo 2022” Tagboat Special Prize
Solo exhibitions
2023 “Studio Visit” DART × Singo Francis Studios, Kamakura, Japan
2021 “Landscape of qi” AnyOne × TEA HERE, Beijing, China
2019 “you are here, so I am here” Semi-Underground Space, Beijing, China
2018 “here, there, somwhere of those” ATELIER・K ART SPACE, Yokohama, Japan
Group exhibitions
2023 “Food, Art, People and Town 2023 Autumn” Yokohama Portside District, Yokohama, Japan
“Independent Tokyo 2022 Selection” Tagboat Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2022 “Independent Tokyo 2022” Tokyo Port City Takeshiba, Tokyo, Japan
2021 “China-Japan Culture and Art Exchanfe Exhibition” , Suzhou, China
“SICF22” Spiral hall, Tokyo, Japan
2020 “Wall Street Museum” The Chain Museum x NEWoMan, Yokohama, Japan
2019 “Objects & Images” Art WeMe Contemporary Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2018 “On Paper Supreme” Qindao Tiantai Art Center, Qindao, China, etc.
2017 “Some, Point” Space Ppong, Gwangju, Korea
2016-21 23 ATELIER・K ART SPACE, Yokohama, Japan
Art Fair
2024 “ART COUNCIL in AUTOMOBILE COUNCIL 2024”, Chiba, Japan
2022 “Art Fair Asia Fukuoka”, Fukuoka, Japan
“Art Nagoya 2022”, Nagoya, Japan
2021 “Beijing Contemporary Art Expo 2021”, Beijing, China
2020 “Art Gwangju 2020”, Gwangju, Korea
2018 “Intangibility, Digital, Fine art & Fair” Space Ppong, Gwangju, Korea
Artist Residencies
2019 Semi-Underground Space, Beijing, China
2017-18 Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea
2017 Space Ppong, Gwangju, Korea
2015-18 Koganecho area management center, Yokohama, Japan
Artist Statement
Creating a Work
I like mountains. They are vast and spacious, but also very steep and crumbling. Climbers often aim for the summit, but for me, the summit is not that important. That's because when you stand on the summit, you can't see the mountain. The mountain you see in the distance gradually grows larger, and it feels like you're standing on its belly; at the top, it becomes the ground, and on the way down, you look back many times and walk towards the next mountain. Naturally, mountains are three-dimensional objects and have different expressions in 360 degrees.
I walk along it, looking at it from various angles, trying to understand the mountain. This is what mountain climbing means to me.
When walking in the mountains, you can sometimes see scenes that make you feel like water is flowing underground. Falling rain soaks into the soil and flows down into the valley. Moss, which loves moisture, grows luxuriantly along the flow of water on the surface.
Countless water veins run beneath the ground like human blood vessels, and the water, the source of life, creates water jars beneath the climber's feet.
The mountain is the belly. Inside the belly, wrapped in a bag of warm water, a tiny life sleeps, waiting to be born. This tiny life is born in the vastness of nature and enjoys life to the fullest, just like a newborn baby. In this place where various types of life are born and nurtured, I feel that vitality and sense it with my whole body. I bring home a part of that experience in the form of a photograph.
When I cut a photo, I remember the time I climbed the mountain, thinking about the weather and the route. With each stroke of the cutter, I feel as if I am walking through the mountains, deciding which way to go next. Perhaps I think, if I climb this ridge a little further, I will reach the summit, or if I push through the brush now, I will see boulders scattered all over, and then I have to climb a steep rocky area. Step by step, the work of moving the blade strictly follows the natural form, making judgments but not interfering with nature. When I cut out a mountain, the lines that emerge are like a pencil drawing for an artist, and they are the traces of my own walk through the mountain.
I go to the mountains to feel the bursting power of life, take photographs there, bring them back, cut them out as if drawing lines, and breathe life into them to create an object. I think that the whole series of activities forms part of my work.
Ryota Shiibashi
msb gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of wood carvings, “Fumiya Watanabe Exhibition”.
He creates pictures of the emotions that arise in his daily life through his interactions with nature and animals, and he carves these images using his hands. All of his works are created with heartfelt care, as if he were giving or writing a letter to a loved one.
The chisel marks left on the wood surface convey the warmth of the artist's hands and breathe life into the wood. His works are delicately colored and have a quiet appearance. They are accompanied by a scene that seems like events in a dream. There is an indescribable warmth and humor that touch the hearts of the viewers.
We hope you enjoy this opportunity.
*On the first day of the exhibition when Fumiya Watanabe will be scheduled to be in the gallery, we have decided to receive clients by appointment only.
If you plan to visit his exhibition on the first day, please make a reservation previously from the following time schedule;
①12:00-13:00 Full booked
②13:00-14:00 Full booked
③14:00-15:00 Full booked
④15:00-16:00 Full booked
⑤16:00-17:00 Full booked
⑥17:00-18:00 Full booked
⑦18:00-19:00 Full booked
Fumiya Watanabe
Born in Tokyo in 1985.
Spent his adolescence in Kanagawa and Iwate, Japan.
After graduating from Kyoto College of Traditional Arts and Crafts majoring in wood carving, in order to further study carving, he became an apprentice to Mr. Akatsuki Iguchi, a traditional craftsman of Inami carving, in Nanto City, Toyama.
Currently working as an independent wood carver based in Gifu.
Solo exhibitions
2024 Hase, Nagoya, Japan
2023 “Inner Whispers, Embracing Tranquility”Cut&paste select shop, Taiwan
gallery agariyashiki, Tokyo, Japan
2022 “Wherever the heart goes, where the body goes” Wood curving exhibition, san galerie, Taipei, Taiwan
2020 “Inner Whispers, Embracing Tranquility” Vima House, Taichung, Taiwan
msb gallery is pleased to present “Line Lands”, a solo exhibition by Naoko Nishitani.
Dots connect to form lines, and lines expand rich imagination.
Naoko Nishitani, who treasures the experiences and sensations of her childhood, expresses her unique worldview in which various plants and living things are juxtaposed.
In this exhibition, using the concept of "lemma" as a key, she attempts to develop mysterious works in which a fragment of memory painted on a triangular canvas can be connected from anywhere to anywhere. Is it a dream, or a world inside a mirror?
We hope you will enjoy these ever-changing works that allow you to slip into a fairy tale.
Artist Statement
When you make dots out of things you sense, and connect those dots, a "line" appears.
The things we see and touch have outlines, but no lines. But as soon as you replace the outlines with lines, the shapes take on meaning and can become a common language.
The images that lines create are not as clear as written words, photographs, or images, but they hold infinite possibilities with imagination and how they are perceived...
Isn't that the charm of lines, not found in words, photographs, or images?
My father was a radio operator on an ocean-going cargo ship, so he was rarely at home except for a few weeks of vacation a year until I entered junior high school. At the time, there were few means of communication, and the occasional airmail was my precious contact with him. As I let my imagination expand and expand from the short letters my father, who was not a prolific writer, wrote to my mother, the image of my father traveling on a huge ship far across the ocean was born in my head as a bottle ship... It stimulated my imagination, but the image of a bottle ship was born of the touch of glass through which it was felt.
One time, I went to Innoshima to visit my father at the dock (a port where the ship calls for inspection), and the color of the ocean I saw there and the feel of the waves were my first experience of the "sea." My encounter with a sea anemone while exploring a cave on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea became the entrance to "another world," and I feel like it was a formative experience in which the dots connected to form a line.
Can we really achieve a high level of reality with AI technology that is independent of human hands and that allows us to imagine anything?What is the true nature of reality? Where is art heading? I was asking myself these questions when I happened to watch a lecture by Shinichi Nakazawa. I became fascinated by the intellectual processes that the ancient Greeks conceived: "logos" and "lemma."
The function of the brain, which logically understands things in terms of causality and time, is very close to the function of "logos", while "lemma" is the function of the mind to grasp the whole of what is in front of us. Lemma is the idea that everything, including things that are not apparent, is connected...
I don't have enough vocabulary or knowledge to explain it well here, but ever since I was a child, I have had the sense that all life (insects, animals, people) is equal, that the distant land and the land under my feet are connected by the sea, and that there are countless mysterious living things living on land (under the ground) and in the sea (under the sea). For me, who enjoys finding similarities between humans and other animals and plants as if playing on the shore, far away from any specific religious concepts or ideas, the ancient Greek concept of "lemma" resonated with me. It was as if I had received a very important hint, even if it was just for my own sake. Without being bound by causality, I would like to aim for an exhibition that, however humble, allows people to feel the present, "dreaming of the future with the infinite life in the earth and the water," based on the reality.
Once again, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude for this valuable exhibition opportunity.
Naoko Nishitani
msb gallery is pleased to present “Etching Exhibition”, a solo exhibition by Kotaro Miura.
As if connecting dots to draw constellations, he engraved on a copper plate for a long time to express his thoughts on the universal blue world of the starry sky.
We hope that you will take this opportunity to enjoy this new works that experiment with more sophisticated techniques and expressions.
Artist Statement
The starry sky has long been a source of imagination for people, and has spun many traditions and legends from all over the world in the past as well as the present.
It is a world beyond human reach, and it evokes emotions similar to curiosity and awe.
What is beyond the sky? What must be burning to make the light shine so brightly?
When we look up at the sky, I am sure the emotions of people of ancient times are still there, and I believe it is a distant communication.
Aren't the stars weaving together such universal thoughts?
Just as dots of light connect to form constellations…
In today's suffocating daily life overflowing with information and things, the sky has been there unchanged for thousands of years, and it is the starting point of my own creativity.
It is a faraway, out-of-reach place, but it is also a blue world full of infinite possibilities and playfulness, and I’d like to express these feelings in my work.
Kotaro Miura
msb gallery is pleased to present “Seeing the ambiguity”, a solo exhibition by Keita Sakai.
Keita Sakai has been creating works with an interest in cognition and its principles, using "human error" as a clue.
At first glance, the visual repetition and symbolism that frequently appear in his works seem to be in the lineage of minimal/op art, but their origins lie in his personal experience with dyslexia (a reading disability) and literacy. This is due to related errors (letters looking like patterns) and unique cognition (discrepancies in recognition when based on language).
Errors hidden within the work lead to errors, and at times the viewer feels anxious as if they are suddenly lost, and at other times, with a lightness and brightness that seems to be playing with words, the viewer is lured into a labyrinth of misperceptions.
His works are devices for understanding things that are "not really visible" through the visual world, and contrary to their pop and design-oriented appearance, they seem to be asking us fundamental questions about the proper meanings of "look/see" and "understand/know".
In this exhibition, we will present his new works from his LINE Series.
We hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy his attempt by actually experiencing it through sight.
Artist Statement
LINE Series is a group of works inspired by symbols such as road signs and markings that overflow in cities. Symbols have the role of conveying information. By extracting characteristic colors and patterns from symbols and simply repeating them, the symbols seem to be released from their original role. Even though the symbols that have lost their functions are no longer symbols, but patterns, we sense signals that shouldn't exist from the mere collection of colors and patterns. A strange feeling hits me as if we were being instructed to do something. Were we the ones being held captive? As I create patterns for signs and markings in my daily work, I am made to think about how vague human cognition is and how there are biases in how individuals perceive the world.
This exhibition will feature new works from the LINE Series. The new pieces have almost no color or pattern. When things that were supposed to be symbols lose their characteristics and return to the state of things themselves, when they are no longer objects of recognition and return to just being there, I wanted to see what was still visible even when there was nothing left to see. Something that becomes invisible as soon as I try to focus on seeing it. What emerges from the work, which is freed from being seen, is the ambiguity of the world of cognition, as if one's own line of sight passes through the work, circles the globe, and then returns from behind.
The cognitive boundaries between “you” and “me” will always be shaken, and the uncertainty will be accentuated by the gaze of the inner other. I hope you enjoy the small errors caused by the new work along with the old work.
Keita Sakai
Biography
Keita Sakai
1997 Born in Tokyo
2021 MA Fine Art in Sculpture at Musashino Art University
Using the perceptual characteristics caused by dyslexia ー reading and writing difficulties ー as a starting point, he creates sculptures with the theme of “gap in recognition” related to literacy. He incorporates trivial everyday actions into his works and conducts his activities while considering the ambiguity of recognition, which means human error.
Awards
2023 Watowa Art Award 2023 Winner of the Second Grand Prix and Jury Prize of Kengo Kito
Kobe Art Marché 2023, Finalist
2022 Watowa Art Award 2022, Finalist
2021 The 15th Gunma Biennale for Young Artists, Finalist
2020 Kuma Foundation Creators’ Scholarship, 4th scholarship student
2019 Contemporary Art Foundation Award, Winner of Grand Prize
Solo exhibitions
2023 Sequence, AOYAMA NOWLOADING, Tokyo, Japan
2022 PLAY-Patapata Nurinuri, A.R.C, Guangzhou, China
2021 COLORS, L'amour Art Space, Hangzhou, China
codecode, KITTE marunouchi 4/Floor, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Underline-Symbols in our everyday lives, Shibuya Hikarie8, CUB＋COURT, Tokyo, Japan
msb gallery is pleased to present “Record at the water border”, a solo exhibition by Ayami Nakashima.
Her unique world depicting detailed and precise expression which reminds us a mysterious nature beings using mineral pigments.
Something like letting us into dream and reality, we can have feeling bringing back to each own ancient memories.
In this exhibition, we will present her new works that depict a phenomenon found in her daily life through the interaction between consciousness and unconsciousness.
We hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy her poetic vision.
Artist Statement
I saw a petal of morning glory reached over to the edge of a small bay.
Holding it in a thin cloth, its color appears and penetrated.
While I thought hearing thunder of somedays, I rose my face up and found some random pieces of drifted objects from here to there.
I can see fishermen over there silhouetted in the light of sunset.
A black kite draws circle silently flying through with wind.
I just draw things come out from this unconscious border,
which can never reach you.
I’m a part of consciousness floating at the water's edge, which cannot find anywhere to go.
Ayami Nakashima
msb gallery is pleased to present “white paper -weißes papier-”, a solo exhibition by kopfkino, Ayano Igarashi.
kopfkino creates imaginary plant specimens by combining a piece of white paper with natural objects. She gives them shape taking the formative beauty of beautiful plants and colors them picking up color each color from natural objects.
In this exhibition, her first solo exhibition, she will present works that use white minerals, fossils, etc., and use minimal coloring, focusing on the "white paper" as a starting point.
We hope that viewers will enjoy coloring the work with their own imaginations, as well as the unique narrative that dwells in "white," which does not seem to belong anywhere and is always dependent on what is next to it.
*The artist is schedule to be in the gallery as below:
1.25 Thu. 12:00-16:00
1.27 Sat. 13:00-16:00
1.31 Wed. 12:00-16:00
2.3 Sat. 12:00-16:00
2.4 Sun. 13:00-17:00
Selected group exhibitions
2023 “What if museum exhibition” usaginonedoko, Kyoto, Japan
“Jeweler's caravan” Chiroptére store, Osaka, Japan
“Night Museum” Guignol, Osaka, Japan
“How to enjoy the rainy day” ranbu, Osaka, Japan
“SICF” Spiral Hall, Tokyo, Japan
2022 Tombo Pencil×minne FAN ART STUDIO, illustrated in May and June
2017 “touch” SMART SHIP GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Artist statement
Nowadays due to time passes blinkly speedy in our modern life, it seems like our imaginations are all about what is necessary in our lives.
Only one thing what I want the viewers get from my work is to enjoy “fantasy”.
Kopfkino literally translates to "cinema in your head" in German.
In other words, it means "fantasy”.
When we face with the beauty of nature, our imagination become overflow.
While the story that grows in our head blurs the line between reality and fantasy, it will secretly lead us to an unknown world.
By embodying our fantasies, we can grasp them as something that exists right now.
And also, someone else can imagine the sequel.
This exhibition will focus on “White".
"White" with a lot of blank space can be colored more freely and realistically.
I hope you enjoy the imagination born from a “White paper=blank slate".
Ayano Igarashi