EXHIBITIONS
Towa Takaya to Present Solo Exhibition "Descending to the Heights" at World Heritage Site Ninnaji Temple
OCTOBER 24, 2026Solo show— New works incorporating materials from Noto are presented in the Shiroshoin, with Suzu ware artist Tatsuma Nakayama joining as a guest artist —WHYNOT.TOKYO, an art project operated by Sora to Tsuchi Co., Ltd., will present The Kuro-shoin will host a simultaneous group exhibition, Towa Takaya (contemporary artist)Towa Takaya,Towa Takaya, Towa Takaya, Towa Takaya, Solo Exhibition | Since the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake, Towa Takaya has made repeated visits to Oku-Noto through WHYNOT.TOKYO’s initiatives supporting Suzu ware ceramicists, sustaining a dialogue with local artists and workshops. For this exhibition, Takaya presents new works that layer materials bearing the accumulated time of the land—earth and sand, ash from Suzu ware kilns, and minerals from Noto—with optically responsive materials, including polarizing pearlescent pigments and metallic pigments. Responding to the natural light entering the Shiro-shoin and to the viewer’s movement through the space, the works continually shift in appearance: one image emerges, dissolves, and gives way to another.The exhibition title, The particles and traces across the surfaces of the works momentarily summon images—mountains, valleys, currents of air, distant landscapes—that shift with the viewer’s position and the changing light. Through driftwood, irregularly shaped canvases, and works extending across the floor, the exhibition stages a paradox within the Shiro-shoin: a descent into matter can widen the field of perception.Guest artist Tatsuma Nakayama, who has devoted himself to the revival of Suzu ware—a historic ceramic tradition once thought lost—will present works in both the Shiro-shoin and the concurrent group exhibition in the Kuro-shoin.Exhibiting ArtistGuest ArtistWhy Ninnaji?Ninnaji Temple: Photo courtesy of Ninnaji TempleNinnaji is a temple that has carried forward its cultural and spiritual practices through great loss and renewal. This exhibition brings together the work of contemporary craftspeople from Oku-Noto and a contemporary artist at a venue defined by that history, as a space in which to reflect on how culture is passed on through human hands.Ninnaji was completed in 888 CE under the 59th Emperor Uda. Following the near-total destruction of its structures in the Ōnin War, it was rebuilt in 1646. In 1994 it was inscribed as a component property of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto." Ninnaji official website: About Towa TakayaTowa Takaya | Contemporary Artist Born in Tokyo in 1992; based in Tokyo. Graduated from the Fine Art department of Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015. Centering her practice on the exploration of optical phenomena and materials, she develops painting as a site in which perception is generated through the relationships among light, matter, body, and environment. Using polarizing pearl, earth, minerals, CO₂-derived materials, and other substances, she creates visual experiences in which the physical properties of materials and the time recorded in specific landscapes are transformed through light, viewpoint, and environment. Works shift in color and depth depending on the angle and distance from which they are seen; images dissolve on approach and reconstitute themselves at a distance.In 2019 she launched the art project WHYNOT.TOKYO. Through exhibitions and artist support, she develops activities that connect creative practice with society, and since 2023 has supported the revival and continuity of Suzuyaki. Since 2022, she has been engaged in collaborative research with Shiseido MIRAI Technology Institute. In 2025 she presented the solo exhibition Simultaneous Exhibition | Kuro-shoinThe Kuro-shoin presents an exhibition curated by Hiroki Yamamoto, featuring works by ceramicists and lacquerware artists from Suzu and Wajima alongside contemporary art works, available for both viewing and purchase. The exhibition brings together craft rooted in the materials and long history of specific places — Suzuyaki, Wajima lacquerware — with contemporary art that responds to shifts in society and understanding.The "entanglement" named in the exhibition's title refers to a condition in which those who support and those who are supported, cities and regions, tradition and the contemporary, past and future are not separate but mutually constitutive of a shared reality. Viewers, buyers, and supporters are also part of that relationship.Exhibiting Artists — Entanglement and CirculationWorks for Sale and Cultural SupportThe exhibition offers works for purchase by Towa Takaya and other participating contemporary artists, as well as craft works by the Suzu and Wajima makers. In addition to direct purchases, visitors may support the ongoing practice and technical continuity of makers through sponsorship and donation.Sponsorship and donation funds are managed separately from sales revenue. Their allocation and use, as well as a post-exhibition report on outcomes, will be published on the WHYNOT.TOKYO official website.Exhibition OverviewTitle: Towa Takaya Solo Exhibition Exhibition StructureShiro-shoin: Towa Takaya Solo Exhibition Planning and management: WHYNOT.TOKYO Grant support: Ogasawara Toshiaki Memorial Foundation, Cooperation: Ritsumeikan University PR cooperation: Ryosuke Maeda (Kikaku to Henshasha Co., Ltd.)Related ProgramSaturday, October 24, 2026, 13:00–15:30 A commemorative talk event will be held at the Hirai Kaichiro Memorial Library, Kinugasa Campus, Ritsumeikan University, to mark the opening of the exhibition. The program will address the current situation of Wajima lacquerware and Suzuyaki following the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and the role of craft and contemporary art in cultural continuity. Details including the program, speakers, and how to attend will be announced in a subsequent press release and on the WHYNOT.TOKYO official website.Curator's StatementIn preparing for this exhibition, I visited Noto with the support of WHYNOT.TOKYO. I was deeply impressed by the breadth of the support network WHYNOT.TOKYO has built in the region, and found myself in strong resonance with their commitment not to "observe damaged culture from a distance as an object of support," but to "build a sustainable circuit for cultural support." Confronting the reality that recovery in parts of Noto still has far to go, and at the same time meeting people — from within and beyond the region — who continue their activities without abandoning hope, I found myself greatly encouraged. I hope that through curating an exhibition drawing on my own field of contemporary art, I can help convey to viewers something of the vitality held within Noto's culture.Hiroki Yamamoto | CuratorAbout Towa Takaya and WHYNOT.TOKYOWHYNOT.TOKYO is an art project launched by contemporary artist Towa Takaya in 2019 and operated by Sora to Tsuchi Co., Ltd. The project plans and implements exhibitions and cultural support initiatives.During the COVID-19 pandemic, it worked to protect the conditions in which artistic work could continue — through reservation-based exhibitions and support with grant applications — even as social circumstances shifted dramatically. Since 2023, the project has expanded its scope to encompass art, craft, technology, and regional culture.Within this context, following the Oku-Noto earthquake of May 2023 and the Noto Peninsula earthquake of January 2024, WHYNOT.TOKYO has worked closely with Suzuyaki ceramicists and workshops: accompanying them through grant applications and rebuilding plans, and creating opportunities for their work to be shown and sold — supporting both the making and the livelihoods of artists.This engagement goes beyond restoring lost facilities. It involves sustained attention to the challenges that public support alone cannot address, with the aim of passing on — as living culture — the skills, knowledge, memory, and human connections cultivated in the region before the earthquake.WHYNOT.TOKYO connects the people, resources, skills, and spaces that sustain creative practice, nurturing a "cycle of creation" in which each exhibition leads to the next.
Being and transfiguration beyond nothingness
JUNE 06, 2025Solo show[Exhibition Overview] Exhibition title｜ “Being and transfiguration beyond nothingness” Date ｜6/7(Sat)‾6/29(Sun) Venue: ASTER Curator Museum 1-99 Toiyacho, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan Hours: 11:00-18:00 (Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays) Admission: ¥500 *Free for students Contact: TEL: 076-256-1618, Mail: info@aster-g.com *Group Exhibition to be held at the same time “Guchusho: Neither concrete nor abstract, or both concrete and abstract” Curator: Hiroki Yamamoto Date ｜6/7(Sat)‾6/29(Sun)
Until that particle comes and eventually returns to the universe
MARCH 12, 2025Solo showExhibition ｜"Until that particle comes and eventually returns to the universe.” Venue ｜ LURF GALLERY/ Roof Gallery 1F Dates ｜13 Mar (Thu) - 21 Apr (Mon), 2025 Opening ｜11:00-19:00 Address ｜Roob1, 28-13 Sarugaku-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0033 Admission｜Free "Until that particle comes and eventually returns to the universe."Creation, for me, transcends “drawing.” It is the act of sensing the energy that creates our Earth, and even the universe, every day, and manifesting it as a work of art through my body. The great circulation of energy, the vast nature surrounding us — “Jinen” — is not only beautiful but also a grand and intense phenomenon that, at times, can swallow our very lives. Last year’s solo exhibition It calls: shades of innocence was a presentation that encapsulated this dynamism, where, in the face of beauty, there was also a simultaneous experience of awe. The exhibition created a space for contemplation of this experience through flat works. This year, I have been given another opportunity to meet with you all, and I aim to present the exhibition from a different perspective, offering a new way to experience last year’s display. To convey the purity of existence, I create colors every day. In the studio, when a speck of pigment left on my fingertip catches the light, there are moments when I stop and gaze at it. In that sparkle, I realize that even within the smallest things, something distant resides. I wonder what kind of story might lie in that tiny thing. Could the exhibition offer an opportunity for you to contemplate that? For this exhibition, I am painting cherry blossoms as a living phenomenon. When viewed with an incredibly small gaze, within a single petal, one can find the story of how life was formed. A drop of rain falling from the sky soaks into the soil, is absorbed by the cherry tree, and becomes a flower. It then leaves the tree with the wind that shakes the branches and begins its journey. Eventually, it will reach the sky (SORA) and return to something greater. I aim to paint such small things. Just as the world resides in a single petal, each of us humans carry the world within. I hope you will reflect upon this mystery. March 2025 For the Exhibition, Towa Takaya
Phenomena of the infinite
MARCH 04, 2025Solo showExhibition｜ “Phenomena of the infinite” Venue1 ｜Gallery - Ginza Mitsukoshi Main Bldg 7th Floor Dates ｜March 5 (Wed) - March 10 (Mon), 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. [last day ends at 5:00 p.m.] Venue2 ｜Promoting space - Ginza Mitsukoshi Main Bldg. 2nd Floor Dates ｜March 5 (Wed) - March 20 (Thu), 10:00 a.m. For me, the act of creation transcends mere ‘painting’; it is a means of sensing and manifesting the very energy that gives rise to this Earth and even the universe itself. Through my body, I bring this force into tangible form. To reveal the delicate rawness and depth of this phenomenon, I research and craft my own pigments.Colour engages the senses before they turn into a verbal perception. Its purity is closely linked linked to the purity of our sensory experience. The brushstrokes, free from boundaries, reflects continuous transformations of all things. They evoke nebulas, budding and blooming flowers, or the fluidity of water. An elusive phenomenon that shifts with the viewer's mental image, unconscious, and the light in which the work exists.None of us exist in isolation. Life is woven into the great cycles of all living beings, where everything breathes in harmony. This phenomenon of life itself is an irreplaceable force that shapes this world.Through the exhibition Phenomena of the Infinite, I invite you to engage in an inner-dialogue with the vast expansion of time and space, both in the universe and within yourself. I hope you will surrender to the depths of the inner world and the ever-changing fluctuations of the unconscious.Towa Takaya
It calls: shades of innocence
MARCH 01, 2025Solo showTOWA TAKAYA Solo Exhibition 「It calls: shades of innocence」 Date｜2024.03.02 - 04.08Venue｜Lurf MUSEUM 1F・2FOpening hours｜11：00 - 19：00Adress｜150-0033 東京都渋谷区猿楽町28-13 Roob1 *Admission Free Planning cooperation｜WHYNOT.TOKYO
Inversing Pictorial Space using Cosmetic Ingredients - A Collaborative Study on Oil Paintings
APRIL 23, 2023collaboration study概要説明：メイクアップ製品に配合される特徴的な顔料であるパール剤。見る人との角度によって光り方が変わる性質を持ちます。今回わたしたちは、美術家の高屋永遠と絵画表現・絵画技法に関する共同研究を行いました。この研究では、油彩画、水墨画、テンペラ画、版画など平面芸術の範囲で知られている技法の描画、観察、分析を行いました。さらにパール剤を画材として使った技法・表現の開発を進め、新たな絵画表現の可能性を見出しました。本展では絵画技法を研究視点で紹介します。また、化粧用パール剤を画材として制作した油彩画作品1点、および、制作研究の現場を再現したアトリエのジオラマを展示しています。 メインとなる作品＜罔象 比方／彼方＞は、一見、曖味な形象を繊細な色彩で描く高屋らしい画風の抽象画ですが、見る角度によって水の波紋のような像が浮かび上がります。パール像があらわれることで作品がもたらす印象が変わり、絵画空間が複層化します。高屋の作品はもとより見る時々の心情によって受け取る印象が変わる複層的なものとして作られていますが、本作品では研究成果を活用し、この複層性を際立たせています。資生堂初代社長の福原信三は、『資生堂路史』の中で化粧品を藝術化する旨の文章を残しています。「藝術的良心の下に作製せられ其品質とともに使用者を惹附けずには置かない典雅優麗な資生堂化粧品が生まれた』。資生堂はその始まりから使う時々の心情によった印象をもたらすような、複層的な商品を作ってきたといえるのではないでしょうか。 【展示概要】 展覧会名：揺動する絵画空間 -化粧品原料を用いた表現の研究 会場：資生堂グローバルイノベーションセンター S
桜時
MARCH 26, 2023Solo showDate｜2023年3月27日(月) ～ 4月3日(月) Venue｜AK-4 GALLERY Opening Time｜11：00 -19：00（17:00 Last date） Address｜153-0042 AK-4 Building 3F, Aobadai 1-15-3, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan Entry｜Free
JOY AFTER ALL
FEBRUARY 21, 2023Solo showJOY AFTER ALLNot even a memory, But just fragments of sensations Just colors that resonate Resonating like echoes, then dissolving into the wind If these lights and echoes that have dispersed Will once again meet someday, somewhere My only hope is that our wishes will consolidate Gently wrapping around us Like the softness of silk
Chroma Distance
JANUARY 19, 2023Group showChroma Distance Date: 20th Jan (Fri) -5th Feb (Sun) 2023 Opening hours：11:00 - 19:00 / Admission Free Venue: Pola Museum Annex Adress: 3F Pola Bldg., 1-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061 Collaboration with TRiCERA inc. U R L：
diverse paintings
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022Group showVenue: Seibu Shibuya Art GalleryDate: 27th September to 10th October in 2022