Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you well and in good spirits. I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone who came to see the Nehan-e at Zenshuji in February. It was an absolute honor to unveil my six years of hard work and celebrate the ceremony with all of you. I am proud to say that the Nehanzu painting is now the only official temple painting in the world that was created by a contemporary artist. It is humbling to think that this piece of art will be prayed over for the next hundreds of years, as long as the temple exists.

先月の禅宗寺の涅槃会にお越しいただいた皆様に心から感謝申し上げます。有り難いことに現代美術家によって制作された正式な涅槃図は世界に例がないそうで、これも美術家冥利に尽きる大変栄誉なことだと思っています。これからも禅宗寺が存在する限り、この作品が100年以上にわたって祈られることを思うととても感慨深いです。

EXHIBITION IN TOKYO

I am thrilled to announce that my ongoing exhibition is currently being held in Tokyo. The exhibit showcases some of my latest works which I collaborated with HINOKISOKEN. The work is from my performance at the Museum Meijimura last November. The work, Phoenix was painted on a traditional Hinoki Bathtub made by a skilled craftsman, using a very precious and expensive material that is considered taboo to paint on. Through this exhibition, we aimed to challenge this taboo and create a new tradition through art. You can view this work at the HINOKISOKEN gallery in Jinbocho, Tokyo until May 27th. We had a talk event for the preopening and the video will be coming soon.
If you are in the area, I would be delighted if you could stop by and experience the exhibition.

3月6日より始まった都内での展示についてもお知らせします。昨年に博物館明治村で行なった檜創建さんとのコラボレーションによるパフォーマンスで檜風呂に作画した鳳凰が東京神田のSTUDIO伽藍裡にて5月27日まで展示されています。神聖な檜を使って職人の作った作品に絵を描くというタブーに挑戦して新しい価値観を作るというチャレンジでした。プレオープニングで行なったトークイベントも近々映像化される予定です。
どちらもお見逃しなく。

WHAT: Special Exhibition PHOENIX

WHERE: STUDIO GARALI
Sarugakucho 1-3-1, Kanda, Chiyodaku, Tokyo, Japan
DATE/TIME: Mar 6 - May 27, 2023
10 am to 6pm
Close on Wednesday and Sunday

ADMISSION: Free 　

COLA EXHIBITION

In addition, I am excited to inform you that I will be having an upcoming COLA show at Municipal Art Gallery in Los Angeles. The show opening is extended to July and the work will up until September when we are planning to have a closing party. I will share the details with you soon, and I hope to see you there.

COLA受賞の展示会もこの夏にロサンゼルス市営のMunicipal Art Galleryで行われます。オープニングが延期されて7月から9月の展示期間になりました。9月にはクロージングのパーティも予定されているので近くなりましたらお知らせを送ります。こちらの新作もぜひ観にいらしてください。

Thank you once again for your support, and I look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.

Best regards,

Wakana

重ねていつも応援してくださる皆さまに感謝申し上げますとともに、新しいプロジェクトをお届けできるのを楽しみに制作してまいります。

若菜

Check out more works from the links below...

Exhibition in Tokyo and Upcoming Show in LA✨