Untitled 2019, Pencil and graphite and acrylic and acrylic ink and Japanese ink on paper, 39x54cm © Hiroe Saeki
ExhibitionThursday 7 November – Friday 31 January 2020
Cosmogenesis by Hiroe Saeki
13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation is delighted to host Hiroe Saeki’s first UK solo show.
Hiroe Saeki’s work inhabits a liminal zone on the edges of the perceivable: monochromatic explorations of the subject of beauty in nature, delicate drawings with a weightless quality, sparse compositions evoking traditional aesthetics. As in a photograph, the totality of the artwork and the detail are valued equally.
The void is inherent in her work, allowing the microscopic and macroscopic viewpoint to coexist. Her chosen tool is the pencil: ephemeral because it can be erased, fluid because it is undefined, emancipating because there is no outline to follow.
In this exhibition, she presents a new body of work with graphite and water. The powdered graphite travels through capillaries of water: settling where and when the water evaporates, to be absorbed by the land of paper. The resulting surfaces recall water-carved planetary landscapes.
Saeki’s practice evokes associations with biological or mineral forms, such as geological sediments. Exquisite, minuscule lines take us to the nano level of the cellular structure of organisms. Combined with the serendipitous nature of her new graphite process, they take on a sense of the cosmic. This new work coalesces her vision of the world into a yearning to interconnect with the universe at all its scales.
A trailer for the exhibition can be found here:
The exhibition will be open till 8pm on the following dates:
Friday 8th November
Monday 11th November
Friday 15th November
Tuesday 26th November
Wednesday 27th November
Friday 17th January
Thursday 23rd January
The exhibition will be closed for Christmas holidays from Saturday 21st December 2019 until Sunday 5th January 2020.
About the contributors
Hiroe Saeki
Hiroe Saeki (b. 1978, Osaka) currently lives and works in Berlin. She has been featured in numerous survey shows to highlight artists/painters from Japan. Notable exhibitions include: Abstract and Empathy, Pola Museum Annex, Tokyo, 2019; Visions of Exchange: Mercedes-Benz Art Scope Award 2009-2017, Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, 2018; It’s Our Permanent Collection!, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2016; DOMANI The Art of Tomorrow, The National Art Centre in Tokyo, 2016; Now Japan, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, 2013; The 242nd Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2010; Winter Garden: The Exploration of the Micropop Imagination in Contemporary Japanese Art (curated by Midori Matsui), Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2009.
Saeki has been awarded a Grant for Overseas Study by Young Artists (POLA Art Foundation, 2014), Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists (Agency for Cultural Affairs, 2012), Artist-in-Residence in Berlin, with the support of the Daimler Foundation in Japan, Art Scope in 2010 and the VOCA Encouragement Prize in 2006.
Her works are held by The Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA), Wellington Management Company, Boston (USA), The UBS Art Collection, London (UK), The Daimler Art Collection (Germany), Deutsche Bank Art Collection (Germany), Miniature Museum (Netherlands), Swiss Re (Switzerland), Doron Sebbag Art Collection, ORS Ltd. (Israel), Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (Japan), KKR Japan (Japan), Toyota Art Collection (Japan).