Friday, September 5, 2024 - Saturday, September 21, 2024
OPEN Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat 12:00 - 19:00
closed sun, monday, tuesday

 

Walls Tokyo is pleased to announce our first solo exhibition with Hisae Isogami, “The House of the Universe”.

Hisae Isogami was born in Saitama Prefecture. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University, she completed graduate studies at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. She has been showing her works mainly in woodblock prints.
Isogamis woodblock prints, in which she says, “I aim to create beautiful and delicate layers of color surfaces and matiere by layering paint,” are layered with neutral colors, evoking the colors of the natural world, which show various expressions depending on the passage of time, the change of seasons, and the ever-changing sunlight.
The layering of these colors gives a sense of depth and creates a painting space full of nourishment.

Isogami was born and raised on the plains, so when he went to Okinawa, he saw geological strata for the first time and was overwhelmed by their existence.
The “beautiful and delicate layers of color surfaces and matiere” created by nature in the earth appeared before Isogamis eyes as exactly what he was aiming for.
Perhaps, for Isogami, this was not only a matter of color, but also an event that allowed him to appreciate the beauty beyond human knowledge created by the earth, the stars, and the universe.

As an artist, Isogami says he was greatly influenced by Kenji Miyazawa.

I feel sympathy for the sadness of life in Kenjis works.
I like Iwate and have visited there several times, but Kenjis works have a smell as if they grew out of Iwate and out of the ground.
I believe that creation is ultimately a celebration of life, and I respect Kenji for being able to express this in a straightforward manner.
Kenjis way of life is also very artistic, with a clear sense of logic and sentimentality.”

Kenji Miyazawas worldview, in which the human world and the natural world are seamlessly connected, seems to tell us that philosophy and art are rooted in our daily lives and are not something special.

During the pandemic that lasted for several years, we seem to have been made more or less aware of human life and living.
The title of the exhibition, “Space House,” is based on an image that Isogami envisioned during that pandemic.

The recent Corona disaster also made me think a lot about “home.
Not everyone can live in a safe house, right?
Some people live with a sense of insecurity and distrust.
Anyway, I wished there was a house big enough to hold the universe.
I cant say it well, but it is not sentimental, but a house as a home for all living and non-living things.
Perhaps I was also influenced by Kenjis Ihatove.”

Ihatov” is a word coined by Kenji Miyazawa, meaning an ideal world in the imaginary world.
The exhibition will feature works rich in poetic sentiment, inspired by the image of an ideal world that is connected to the real world.

 

Hisae Isogami

1979 Born in Saitama Prefecture
2003 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University
2005 M.F.A. Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts

2022
2022 “Exhibition of Japan Print Association” Selected (Prize Candidate)
Workshop “Unraveling Baren” Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan
Prints and Words” Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts　

2021
2021 Taoyuan International Print Exhibition
Sumi-Fusion International Woodblock Print Exhibition” Nara Prefectural Culture Hall
CWAJ Contemporary Print Exhibition” Art Front Gallery, Tokyo
Other solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, international print exchange exhibitions, etc.

Solo exhibitions (held in recent years)
2023 “Hisae Isogami Woodblock Print Exhibition” san-ai gallery
2021 “Hisae Isogami Woodblock Print Exhibition 2021” san-ai gallery, Tokyo
2019 “Hisae Isogami Woodblock Print Exhibition” san-ai gallery, Tokyo
2017 “Hisae Isogami Woodblock Print Exhibition” MUSEE F, Tokyo

Group Exhibitions / Awards (selected from recent exhibitions)
2024 “Clouds? Clouds! Clouds! One Hundred Faces of Clouds” Kawakami Sumio Museum of Art, Kanuma, Japan
2023 “Art and Town Tour” Saitama Kaikan
Involved-Texture Printmaking Studio
International Printmaking Exchange Project, Gallery Seibundo, Tokyo
Group Exhibition “Future Perspective” Gallery TEN, Tokyo, Japan