EXHIBITIONS
2025.2.8 [sat] – 3.1 [sat]
YUKIKOMIZUTANI
(Left) Julie Hayashi Depth2 [Nasu] (Right) Chie Tsubomoto Inscription
YUKIKOMIZUTANI is pleased to present ʻWhen I Gazed at a Void Waterwayʼ, a duo exhibition from Julie Hayashi and Chie Tsubomoto, held from Saturday 8 February to Saturday March 1, 2025.
Julie Hayashi creates works centered on the themes of “what naturally emerges” and “the transient.” Her practice begins with the study of techniques such as “blurring” and “tarashikomi” seen in Edo-period Rinpa art. She is deeply interested in the philosophy of jinen (nature as it is) and explores the interplay between the act of painting and the phenomena that naturally arise from her materials, engaging in a dialogue with nature. Recently, she has been working on her ʻNoiseʼ series, inspired by literati culture, capturing and expressing the sensation of new sounds resonating within her when immersed in nature or foreign lands. By focusing on subtle changes, she seeks to evoke an understated awareness rather than making everything overtly clear.
Chie Tsubomoto focuses on the themes of “preservation of words” and “communication,” creating works inspired by the Russo-Japanese War memorial in her hometown, Ehime Prefecture, known as the “Faceless Monument.” This stone monument once bore an inscription passionately advocating for world peace and opposing war. However, the text was entirely removed due to inspection, leaving only the bare stone. In her Inscription series, Tsubomoto reconstructs the erased text in unreadable forms using stencils, questioning the gradients of absence and existence.
In the exhibition “When I Gazed at a Void Waterway” the two artists focus on their approaches to what they call the “A Void Waterway”. A shared aspect of their practices is the process of navigating between opposites, such as self and other, past and future, and the artificial and natural. This process is likened to a canal that channels water from one source to another—a place where human-made paths intersect with water derived from nature. For both artists, creating art is akin to constructing a waterway, and their attitude toward their work mirrors the act of quietly observing the water flowing through it.
[Julie Hayashi ‒ Profile]
Born in Osaka in 1989. After graduating from the Department of Aesthetics and Art Studies at Tokyo University of the Arts, she completed her masterʼs and doctoral studies in Cultural Property Conservation (Japanese Painting) at the same university. She has held positions as a specialist researcher and curator at the Hosen Cultural Foundation Exhibition Office. In 2019, she also served as a special assistant at the university’s COI hub. Hayashi integrates her extensive knowledge and curiosity into her work, continuously exploring the possibilities of Japanese painting. Recent solo exhibitions include “Noise in the Shadow” (Fitzrovia Gallery, London, 2024) and “Bruit dans lʼombre” (Galerie Du Forez, Paris, 2023). She has also actively pursued overseas research and residencies, including her time as a Pola Art Foundation overseas research fellow based in London.
[Chie Tsubomoto ‒ Profile]
Born in Ehime in 1997. She graduated from the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at Kyoto University of the Arts (formerly Kyoto University of Art and Design) in 2020 and is currently based in Kyoto. Recent solo exhibitions include “Tracing Letters. Reading Letters” (Tsutaya Kyoto Store, Kyoto, 2024) and “Shapes of Intervals” (YUKIKOMIZUTANI, Tokyo, 2023). In 2018, she was selected as a finalist for the OSTEN Biennial of Drawing in Skopje.