Gallery Joeun is pleased to present the solo exhibition 《Beyond Gaze Into Self》 by Maiko Kobayashi (b. 1977, Japan) from October 17 to November 16. Maiko Kobayashi, who is showing her second solo exhibition at Gallery Joeun, uses her unique artistic language to express creatures reminiscent of animals such as rabbits and dogs.

The figures that Kobayashi draws again and again are not simply taken from animations or cartoons, but are a natural and pure expression of consciousness, like graffiti by children. As a human being, the artist projects her own emotions into the work, and the inner emotions and thoughts that emerge through her hand movements become lines and colors on the canvas, revealing themselves as concrete “existences”. The “presences” created by the artist look at the viewer or an unknown place, just as they themselves live and breathe, like a living being. These figures, which give us the feeling that they are vulnerable or that there is more to them than just “kawaii” (cuteness), resemble our human images that are difficult to define clearly and cannot be simplified, such as love and sadness, vulnerability and strength, melancholy and hope.

The artist, who pays close attention to the support, tears, rubs and binds the traditional Japanese Washi paper and applies it to wooden panels or canvases, giving the whole work a fine and intense texture. The artist believes that the properties of the fragile yet robust Washi paper are similar to human nature. Like a note on the side of the studio that reads, “Face real life even if it is a difficult time,” Kobayashi draws her inspiration for life and art from the strong vitality of people trying to survive in chaotic times. Takeshi Kudo, the director of the Tagawa City Museum of Art, commented that the intense and rich “layers” of lines and colours that Kobayashi has created represent the beauty created by the “layers” of consciousness of people living in modern society, and that the “presences” in the work are eventually replaced by portraits of modern people, by the faces of all of us, beyond the artist herself.

Kobayashi, who presents 18 of her latest works in this exhibition, presents a new series of “Meditative Things?”, which she painted directly on canvas without using Washi paper, and “SELF”,” a large drawing with intuitive and original expression.

Kobayashi, who studied at Musashino Art University in Japan and Northumbria University in England, has been working in Europe, Asia and the United States for 20 years. Some of her works are in the Gunma Museum of Art in Japan, the Ueshima Collection in Japan and the Nasima Landau Art Foundation in Israel. Following consecutive solo exhibitions in New York(GR Gallery) and Hong Kong(Gallery Ascend) in 2023 and Hong Kong(AISHONANZUKA) and Tokyo(ARTDYNE) in 2024, her solo exhibition will also be on display at Art Miami at the end of this year.

Maiko Kobayashi, Dear Humanity, 2024, Acrylic, color pencil, Japanese Washi paper on canvas, 91 x 116.7 cm

Maiko Kobayashi, GIFT, 2024, Acrylic, color pencil, Japanese Washi paper on canvas, 60.6 x 45.5 cm