Yamaguchi Yoshishige Exhibition
– In Search of the Real –

October 4 (Sat) – 26 (Sun), 2025

Wednesday to Sunday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Final Day of Exhibition: 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Closed: Monday and Tuesday

■ Artist in the Gallery:
The artist will be present on Saturdays and Sundays during the exhibition, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and will talk about the works.
Please feel free to stop by.

Yamaguchi Yoshishige Exhibition – In Search of the Real

Artland Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by painter Yamaguchi Yoshishige, titled “In Search of the Real,” from Saturday, October 4 to Sunday, October 26, 2025. This exhibition features his latest works, which explore the notion of reality in painting through the use of lines, spatial intervals (ma), and compositions that weave together the front and back surfaces.

Exhibition Details
* Dates: October 4 (Sat) – October 26 (Sun), 2025
* Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Until 4:00 p.m. on the final day)
* Closed: Monday and Tuesday
* Artist in the Gallery: Every Saturday and Sunday during the exhibition, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (The artist will be available to talk about the works.)

Born in 1961 in Utazu, Kagawa Prefecture, Yamaguchi studied oil painting at Tama Art University before completing graduate studies in printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He deepened his artistic practice while traveling through various regions of the former Yugoslavia and major European cities. After returning to Japan, he based his practice in Kagawa and has exhibited in numerous domestic and international exhibitions. He has received many honors at the Kagawa Prefectural Art Exhibition, including the Governor’s Prize, and remains actively involved in regionally rooted art events such as the Kagawa Yamanami Art Festival.

This exhibition features 22 acrylic works on canvas and plywood. The series “Incoherent Truth” (10 works) centers on the theme of lines, exploring visual dissonance and spatial tension. The other series, “Filled with Light” (12 works), uses the motif of windows to capture the presence of light connecting interior and exterior spaces. The pieces range in size from 94×94 cm to 25×25 cm, and are characterized by their dense spatial composition and delicate surface texture.

As the artist describes, his paintings are spaces where “noticing subtle surface changes gives rise to creativity through small discoveries,” and they function as devices that “offer moments of meditation through the act of observing air and light.” Through this exhibition, we hope visitors will experience a quiet dialogue with the artworks and rediscover the “real” that lies within the everyday.

Artland Gallery is honored to present the profound artistic world of Yamaguchi Yoshishige. We warmly invite you to take this opportunity to view his work.

Yamaguchi Yoshishige – In Search of the Real

Looking back on the ideas that have served as my “clues” and “foundations” for painting, I recall that in my early works—created with the awareness of being seen by others—I was making geometric compositions with a focus on the concepts of necessity and chance. Around that time, the contemporary art master Saito Yoshishige pointed out the issue of ambiguity in shadow expression and posed the challenge: “Can’t you express space with a single line?”

In thinking about the idea of the “line,” I arrived at the concept of “ma” (間) — the space between things. I began creating paintings using lines that emerge from the in-betweenness of objects. As I pursued this, my interest gradually shifted toward the boundary between two-dimensional and three-dimensional expression. I began to wish to depict the front and back on a single surface, and this led me to the idea of turning the existence of fabric—woven or knitted—into painting.
This evolved into my exploration of the “window,” something whose value lies in being empty. A window is also a unification of front and back (or inside and outside), and I have sought to express this concept in my paintings.

Recently, I have been deeply moved by the atmosphere in certain moments—when standing in a space where thin threads are stretched tight, or gazing toward the light from within a dim tunnel. I try to capture the emotional resonance of those fleeting instants through painting.
Where does the emotional impact that touches a person truly appear? Amid the effects of surface-level light, what lies beyond—what is the essence? By adding relief-like texture to the painting’s surface, or by incorporating gaps formed from the assembly of multiple panels as key compositional elements, I seek to express a strong sense of presence.

When people notice subtle surface variations and discover something small, creativity is nurtured, and the energy to move people is born. Perhaps painting is a device that helps people become aware of such sources of inspiration. I hope that, by gazing into the air and light within a quiet painting, the viewer is granted a space and time for meditation—a practice for inner harmony and mental stillness.