Intervals: Distance

11/8 - 12/21/2024
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 12:00-19:00
Closed: Sunday - Tuesday

KOKI ARTS is pleased to present the three-person exhibition Intervals: Distance, featuring works by Sanghoon Ahn, Naoko Matsumoto, and Naosuke Wada. This exhibition is a collaborative project organized by KOKI ARTS, TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, and gallery chosun, touring three cities: Tokyo, Osaka, and Seoul. In each city, different works by the same artists will be displayed, with the layout tailored to each unique space. Intervals: Distance marks the first installment of a three-part series.

SANGHOON AHN (b.1975) majored in Western Painting at Jung-Ang University in 2002, received his Akademie brief in 2013, and studied under the title Meisterschüler in 2014 at Kunstakademie Münster. Ahn lives and works in Seoul. The artist contemplates expanding the uncertainty of painting into various situations and spaces, going between representation and abstraction, coincidence and inevitability, stimulation and acceptance. Ahn has participated in residency programs including Nanji Art Studio of Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, 2022), CAN Foundation Residency (Seoul, 2021), MMCA Residency Goyang (Goyang, 2020), Gyeonggi Creation Center (Ansan, 2019), Incheon Art Platform (Incheon, 2017, 2018), and Kunsthof Dahrenstedt Residency (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, 2015). He was awarded the Surim Art Award (2019), Public Art New Hero (2018), and Artist of the Year (Incheon Art Platform, 2017), and has received support from Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany, 2015).

NAOKO MATSUMOTO (b.1987) graduated from Tama Art University in 2012. From 2017-2018, as part of the "Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists" sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Japanese government, she studied under Klaus Merkel at the University of Fine Arts Münster in Germany. Matsumoto lives and works in Saitama. Matsumoto paints as if extracting colors and shapes that resonate with her as she draws motifs that serve as hints. Solo exhibitions include "Memoria! Fantasia." (KOKI ARTS, Tokyo, 2022), and petal / stair / day (Kunstverein Schallstadt, Baden-Württemberg, 2021). Notable group exhibitions include Remaining Fragments (CADAN Yurakucho, Tokyo, 2024), Drawing Show (AWOBA SOH, Tokyo, 2023), Forms of Boundaries (EUREKA, Fukuoka, 2023), Azamino Contemporary vol.10 Reality in a Square (Yokohama Civic Art Gallery Azamino, Yokohama, 2019), and Wonderful People (Akibatamabi 21, Tokyo, 2014). She received the Ichiro Fukuzawa Prize in 2012, and the Tokyo Wonderwall Prize in 2011.

NAOSUKE WADA (b.1983) graduated in 2013 from the Graduate School of Art and Design at Kyoto University of Art and Design (now Kyoto University of the Arts). Currently based in Osaka, Wada creates artworks centered on themes of light and space, utilizing the classical painting technique of "glazing," in which layers of thinly diluted paint are repeatedly applied. By building layers with a highly transparent medium, his paintings achieve a fluid effect through transparency, with colors and forms subtly shifting depending on the location of the light and the time of day, inviting viewers to reconsider the act of "seeing." Solo exhibitions include Whole set of No.2 to 8 (GALLERY Rin, Tokyo, 2023) and Pathway (TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka, 2022). Notable group exhibitions include Sessa – The Proof of Painting IV (TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka, 2023), MA: Blank of the imagination (graf porch, Osaka, 2023), can (not) reach (EUKARYOTE, Tokyo, 2022), Naosuke Wada & Mariko Ogawa: full-size room (GALLERY Rin, Tokyo, 2021), The Analogical Mirrors (Yamanaka Suplex, Otsu, 2020), and Island with ONI (WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, 2019).