The 14th shiseido art egg program Akiko Hashimoto Exhibition in Shiseido Gallery

The solo exhibition “Ask him” by Ms. Akiko Hashimoto, one of the three winners of the open program “The 14th Shiseido Art Egg” is now being held at the Shiseido Gallery.
The open program “Shiseido Art Egg” was launched in 2006 and continues as an initiative to support fresh and up-and-coming artists. This program truly embodies the Shiseido Gallery’s philosophy of “Discovering and creating new value”, which has been maintained since its opening in 1919.
Although it is an open program, one of the main features of this program is that selected artists are provided with the opportunity to organize their exhibitions in collaboration with curators, similar to the regular exhibitions held at the Shiseido Gallery.
One of the highlights of this exhibition is that the entire gallery space is organized as a single work of art.

A unique art experience that can be obtained by appreciating the entire space.
Ms. Akiko Hashimoto, transforms the gallery into a tranquil, lyrical space inviting viewers to some place different to than where they are at present. A total of 20 pencil drawings on paper and tracing paper are displayed, but they are “drawing materials” and not “paintings” in themselves. The entire space is a single work of art, and you will have a unique art experience by appreciating it.

There are several pieces of “painted partial materials” that are displayed across the corners of the walls, which gives you a different feeling to the way the exhibition is presented than a normal solo exhibition, and you’ll realize along the way that it would be better to look at the entire space as well as each piece.
I think we should be free to appreciate the work and the way we do it, but few people think you should look at the entire space first. We can’t change our habits right away, and we tend to be in the mindset of confronting each “work” as we always have. However, if you leave this exhibition after appreciating the painting material as a “painting work”, you will miss the most attractive part of Ms. Hashimoto’s work.

Created in a sophisticated, ephemeral, monotone space.
Finely penciled drawings of roads, birds in flight, landscapes, etc., appear to have continuity but are interrupted by curtains, or appear to be randomly placed in a constant rhythm. The large space and white walls of the gallery are constructed as blank space for works that are often seen in ink-wash paintings, so if you look at it quietly, the image will spread freely to your mind. You will feel as if you can see the “a space somewhere over there” somewhere far away from “here”.

Some drawing parts have creases, and some have mountain folds. There are also tables with small greenery attached, and the drawn portion of the material is hidden by a curtain. Many of these small accents and the light and shadow of the lighting with different illuminance resonating with wall surface, and the entire gallery is finished in a monotone, sophisticated and ephemeral space.

Ms. Hashimoto has a background in graduate school majoring in Japanese painting.
When she saw a wall painting by Okyo Maruyama (a painter in the Edo period) at Daijoji Temple in Hyogo Prefecture, she realized that Okyo was trying to create a three-dimensional, dynamic experience for the appreciator of the work displayed in the room. Okyo placed each painting at a right angle to the pillars of the room, and designed the space composition so that appreciators can see the shoji windows and the landscape as they walk slowly down the corridor.
It is difficult for us to get the experience that Okyo intended in a general museum exhibition where the works are displayed in a two-dimensional manner, but it is possible in a three-dimensional place. These experiences seem to have inspired her use of the entire space to express herself.

“Watching” is being asked to us.
The question, “Is what we see really true?” Often seems to be a major theme for the artist, and I have encountered many solo exhibitions and works with similar awareness of the problem. Many of them often feel like they don’t answer the question or remain in the artist’s inner conflict. However, Ms. Hashimoto’s works seems to have a gentle power to share these questions with the appreciators and to affirm their own “answers” to them.

Visit for a unique art experience that you can’t get anywhere else.