Naho Ito
About Hopes in Non-Special Time
27 (Wed) November - 15 (Sun) December, 2024
11:00 -18:00, Monday closed
The belief that "from anywhere, it is possible to reach that place" is central to this concept.
In the vast darkness of the sky, countless stars float, each tied to countless stories. Yet, the emptiness — the void surrounding the stars — is far greater than the stars themselves. This boundless expanse can overwhelm us, but within this, we might come to understand a kind of hope that exists beyond meaning — a hope that simply is.
Paintings, in this context, hold a unique power. They do not treat the past as something irretrievably gone, nor do they limit it to a verbal recollection. Instead, what seems to be a bygone past is embodied in the present as something that has never been lost and is projected toward the future.
Even in times of confusion or stagnation, we are reminded that we have lost nothing. In fact, scattered all around us are countless tiny seeds of renewal, waiting to sprout.
The artworks in this exhibition aim to embody this hope inherent in every moment. If we can perceive even a small seed or light within these works, it affirms that they are truly present here and now, tangible and real.
When someone feels unable to endure the stagnation of time and its inexorable passing, they may eventually realize:
Time is not something outside of me. Time is, in fact, myself.
Featured Works
Naho Itoh
Naho Ito learned Japanese traditional aesthetics and traditional painting materials, such as handmade paper, mineral pigments, sumi-ink, gold and silver foils and glue.The color materials are called in Japanese Iwa-enogu or Rock painting. Basically Rock painting consists of clay, various minerals, shells of oysters and clams and many other elements that have been used since ancient times. Ito mixes each ingredient with glue with her own fingers. They should be treated very delicately and then pasted to the handmade paper. Moreover, they should be arranged according to seasons. So, one may say that “nature” is only one element of the technique, which Ito enjoys.
In Ito's paintings the abstract manner is combined with traditional mineral pigment painting technique on paper. Mineral pigments have countless colours, hence each painter can make their own color palette. As hundreds years ago she rubs and dissolves each ingredient with her fingers, then blends them with glue and applies on paper. It allows her to achieve necessary tint, find a balance between colour and texture. This practice is an important part of the artist's work.
The artist does not use lines, her works consist entirely of color spots of varying intensity, which are permeated with light and flawless in tinting. They seem to shine through, appear on the surface, gather into color objects, multi-layered traces as reflections and shadows of the reality perceived by the artist. Each color spot applied to the surface of the picture is designed to reflect her thought, emotion or moment.