9s Gallery is pleased to present "Your Present," a U-ku solo exhibition from January 27, 2023 (Friday) to January 31, 2023 (Tuesday).

U-ku Solo Exhibition is summarized in three pieces

💡Themes
Inescapable loneliness" due to cultural and language differences

💡Points for viewing the works
The style of the paintings has a sense of transience and impermanence, making the most of the characteristics of watercolors.
Delicate and subtle expressions such as blotches and shavings.
Original paints selected from pigments by the artist.

💡What kind of artist are you?
A painter who improves the value of the culture of watercolor painting and transmits its appeal.

U-ku

U-ku is a watercolor painter whose works cannot be described as either abstract or figurative, and are characterized by the watercolor expression of each brushstroke that is imbued with emotion.
This solo exhibition will be held in commemoration of the publication of "Your Present," a book of paintings co-authored by U-ku and Michiko Aoyama.
U-ku's works, when examined in detail, take the form of various motifs, each of which represents the artist's mental landscape. Using watercolors that he selects from a wide range of pigments, U-ku's paintings continue to express his meticulous attention to detail.

Artist Statement

We unconsciouslyexperience"involuntariness and decision" over and over again. In the midst of these events, one is always alone.
When U-ku moved abroad as a child, he experienced both the loneliness caused by cultural and language differences and the emotional loneliness he suffered as a "returnee" after returning home.
U-ku depicts the accidental blotches and shapes created by the colors of watercolors she chooses to use as "involuntariness and determination" that she herself has experienced, and attempts to share them with others by adding motifs at the end.
By adding a motif at the end, U-ku attempts to share with others. Through this exhibition, U-ku would like to share with viewers the answer he has reached at this point in time by simply confronting the color red, and let it become the blood of his further expression.

What is "red"?

The works in this exhibition pose a philosophical question about the definition of the color "red. Each work has a hidden little story behind it.
What is red?
What is red for U-ku?
What is the temperature of red?
What is a red object?
What is red as an expression?

U-ku, who worked with Michiko Aoyama on her previous work , "My Present," used blue in many of her paintings, took on the challenge of using "red" in the publication of "Your Present.
This will be a unique opportunity to witness the forefront of the trajectory of his painting career.
The exhibition will feature more than 20 works created over the past three years. The highly stylized works will shake viewers' emotions and approach them with an intensity that overturns their perception of reality.

Artist Profile

Born in 1989 in Hyogo Prefecture. He has won the Grand Prize at the 3rd Japan Literary Art Competition, the Encouragement Prize at the "2022 Beauty in the Making" Exhibition, and the Runner-up Grand Prize at the "ARTE DESIGN VENEZIA" Exhibition in Italy, among others. He was in charge of the book design for the novel "Red, Blue, and Esquisse" (written by Michiko Aoyama), and in 2022 published "My Present" and "Your Present," co-authored with Michiko Aoyama.

Exhibition Outline

Your Present
Dates: Friday, January 27, 2023 - Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Opening hours: 12:00~19:00 (open every day during the exhibition period)
Venue:9s Gallery by TRiCERA
The Wall 3F, 4-2-4 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0031
Access: Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line Roppongi station 10 min. walk, Hiroo station 10 min. walk
10 minutes walk from Nogizaka station on Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line
Contact: 03-5422-8370