Past Exhibition

Right now the world in which we live is operating in accordance with some new, different norms. With everyday life in a state of flux and instability, many have also experienced a transformation in their personal values. Undergoing changes just as radical as those in our lifestyle is the environment surrounding art and culture. As we accept and adapt to a new reality, this is precisely the time to question, and keep questioning, the potential roles for art in this new normal.

Since its opening in 1919, the Shiseido Gallery has been offering exquisite, memorable encounters and experiences through art in accordance with its mission to “discover and create new value.” The “shisedo art egg” open program was launched in 2006 to support the discovery and creation of such new value by up-and-coming artists. The selected artists are given the opportunity to organize exhibitions of their work in collaboration with curators, similar to the regular exhibitions held at the Shiseido Gallery.

The 15th shiseido art egg program received 243 applications from all over Japan. From a number of creative proposals taking advantage of the gallery's spaces, artists Umi Ishihara, Mika Kan, and Kayako Nakashima were selected for their unique perspectives and expression of new values and aesthetics in today's world.

Solo shows by each of the artists selected will be staged over the period from September 14 (Tue) to December 19 (Sun), 2021. Times of uncertainty and instability are precisely when works born out of frank engagement with contemporary society are likely to draw viewer attention to new things. We hope the shiseido art egg exhibitions will help to bring about a better society.

This year's jury for the shiseido art egg prize comprises three creative professionals from different genres: sculptor Kenichi Kanazawa; sculptor, critic and publisher Nodoka Odawara; and writer and manga artist Erika Kobayashi.

* The shiseido art egg prize is conferred on artwork from among the exhibitions of the three selected artists that particularly capitalizes on the distinctive spaces of the Shiseido Gallery and creates the greatest new value. The winner will be announced on the Shiseido Gallery website after the exhibitions have ended.

Shiseido’s corporate mission is to provide “BEAUTY INNOVATIONS FOR A BETTER WORLD.” This mission is governed by the idea that encounters with and experiences of beauty through art may help guide the way we live and our manner of thinking in an increasingly uncertain world and, if only a small part of our everyday life, lead to innovations that change our actions, which will make the world better and more beautiful.

Umi Ishihara makes experimental films and video installations on the themes of love, gender, personal histories, and society. Revolving around actual events, and constructed with the addition of fictive and narrative elements, Ishihara’s works neatly capture aspects of modern society, and the subtle workings of the human heart. At this exhibition, Ishihara will posit some fundamental questions by pursuing the meaning of suffering and life through a play performed with the people gathered at a church in Kita-Kyushu, and interspersing interviews throughout footage of this.

The works on video I make cannot be made by me alone, but only with the help or cooperation of many different people. That I've managed to make them thus far, and continue to do so, is thanks to the talented people who have walked alongside me through all my ups and downs, and the friends who have generously made so many allowances for me over the years. To ensure that I'm able to continue on this strange journey with these people I love, I intend to do the best I can for my exhibition at that most coveted of venues, the Shiseido Gallery.

Taking as her themes new types of physical sensation and approaches to reproduction in a state of transition due to technological progress in fields such as humanoid robots and advanced reproductive medicine, Kan employs a range of media including photography, dolls and video to question what constitutes “human.” Works that upset our visual perceptions hint at value shifts in the not-too-distant future, and present new realms to the spectator.

It is a great privilege to gain this opportunity to show my work. I have been looking at what one can do, and what one perhaps ought to do, under the current pandemic conditions, when both meeting in person and going out are problematic.
Previously I have explored reality within the world through my camera lens, by photographing dolls, as opposed to actual humans. In this I was predicting a view of the body in the not-to-distant future that is not a binary one of genuine/fake or real/virtual, but one in which these are blended in complex ways. Changes in how we live and behave may cause the future of my imagination to arrive earlier than I thought.

Kayako Nakashima makes works with motifs such as walls and borders that interrogate relationships between people and places. Here she will partition the gallery with a gigantic wall to create a space in which only sound and light move about, according to the motion of spectators. The light and sound sent to the other side of the wall as some kind of sign may, depending on the state of the person on the receiving end, seem violent, or hopeful. In an era when we can connect with others easily without actually meeting, Nakashima’s show will encourage visitors to reconsider the nature of communication.

It is a great honor to receive the opportunity I've been hoping for to exhibit at the Shiseido Gallery.
While writing this, unfortunately I managed to get into an argument with my partner. Ideally we’ll make up quickly, but things may not be that simple. That same sense of distance between the self and objects outside the self is also the theme of this work. With society growing ever more open, we now have the chance to experience greater diversity. Yet at the same time, there seem to be more situations with the potential to unwittingly hurt others.
My intent will be to make best use of the Shiseido Gallery’s superb location to carefully create my work.

*Content and schedule are subject to change depending on Japan’s Covid 19 status.
Information on related events will be posted on the Shiseido Gallery website as it becomes available.

Gallery talks, in which the artists discuss their artworks at the venue, will be streamed online on the Shiseido Gallery website after each exhibition commences.

*Gallery talks may be postponed / canceled or changed without notice due to unforeseen circumstances.