Group Show Maya Kishi Mika Kasai
Maoya Kishi (b.1986 in Osaka, Japan)
Maoya Kishi is deeply interested in the inherent qualities of materials. He works with objects that are often seen as mundane or functionally neutral—plywood, timber, construction materials, blue tarps, styrofoam, and electronic display panels—and transforms them into sculptural and installation works through his own conceptual frameworks and methods. His pieces consistently take on forms that feel unfamiliar, as if he is persistently probing the threshold between “material” and “artwork.”
For this exhibition, his dialogue with an AI about “the world of the future” served as a catalyst. Drawings generated from this exchange are reconfigured and layered into the final works in seemingly random arrangements. While the AI's responses can be erratic, they often carry a strangely human quality. For Kishi, the act of reinterpreting, extracting, and reassembling these fragments is central to his pursuit of creating something that has never been seen before.
Mika Kasai (b.1989 in Nagano, Japan)
Mika Kasai's works are collages made from scraps of paper and timber that the artist “finds from around her.” She cuts empty candy boxes, handled paper bags, leftover wood and fabric from canvas making into various sizes and shapes, paints them with acrylic, and layers or connects them into vivid, often playful compositions. The unique colors and combinations of forms give her work a dynamic quality that never tires the eye.
Rather than depicting specific motifs or narratives, her work reconstructs space and composition on a flat surface from her own distinctive perspective—what she refers to as “something else.” A bird’s-eye viewpoint is central to her visual language, and she draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including the compositional strategies found in Nara Ehon—illustrated manuscripts from early modern Japan—as well as her own snapshots of landscapes.
Installation View
Works
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2025, acrylic, timber, canvas sheet, pencil, thumbtack, 10 x 16.8 cm
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2025, acrylic, timber, canvas sheet, pencil, thumbtack, 10.5 x 18 cm
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2025, acrylic, timber, canvas sheet, pencil, thumbtack, 7.5 x 21.6 cm
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2025, acrylic, timber, canvas sheet, pencil, thumbtack, 15 x 13.5 cm
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2021, acrylic on paper, 38.2 x 42.8 cm
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Mika Kasai "untitled" 2022, acrylic on paper, 17.9 x 17 cm
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Maoya Kishi "Garage-cum-botanical garden" 2025, plastic board, resin, ink, canvas sheet, plywood, pin, 28 x 21.5 cm
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Maoya Kishi "Future Kokeshi Doll (Plastic board)" 2025, plastic board, resin, ink, canvas sheet, plywood, pin, 48.7 x 36.5 cm
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Maoya Kishi "Future clay pipe person" 2025, ceramics, tarpaulin, pin, plywood, timber, 17.5 x 14.5 cm
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Maoya Kishi "Future Kokeshi Doll (Ceramics)" 2025, ceramics, tarpaulin, tube, wire, plywood, timber, 9(d) x 12(w) x 29.5(h) cm
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Maoya Kishi "Flyable Person" 2025, acrylic on canvas, 53 x 45.5 cm
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Maoya Kishi "Future Office Worker" 2025, acrylic on canvas, 53 x 45.5 cm