Light Echo Ⅱ

ARTPLAT@Bwac JAPAN proudly presents four-artist exhibition, Light Echo II by Ami Sugawara, Kohei Hanawa, Taishi Hatayama, and Tomoyuki Ueda. Light Echo II is the fourth group exhibition by Ami Sugawara, Kohei Hanawa, Taishi Hatayama, and Tomoyuki Ueda. Bringing together works by these four artists, the exhibition seeks to generate a renewed atmosphere of air and light throughout the exhibition space. Since 2020, the artists have engaged in an ongoing dialogue about what can never be lost in the course of human life, drawing inspiration from mathematician Kiyoshi Oka's concept of jocho ("emotional depth" or "sentiment") and the novels of KenzaburōŌe. This shared inquiry has given rise to three previous exhibitions: Demonstrations of Rejoicing (AKIBATAMABI 21, Tokyo, 2020), Demonstrations of Rejoicing II: Kairos (Sezon Art Shop, InterContinental Yokohama Grand, Kanagawa, 2021–2022), and Light Echo (Courtyard HIROO, Tokyo, 2023). Sugawara's paintings are rooted in the temporal and spatial worlds of myth and storytelling. Their richly layered surfaces and vibrant colors, built through diverse brushstrokes, draw viewers into immersive pictorial spaces. Through countless white dots, Hanawa discovers seascapes and human figures as introspective forms of light, creating a new perspective on the relationship between the individual and the world. Inspired by encounters with sacred trees and forests, Hatayama listens attentively to spaces and objects in an attempt to perceive invisible forms of information. Through painting, he uncovers new orders hidden within the world. Ueda captures fleeting moments—skies, mountains, vegetables, and other scenes that can exist only in a particular instant—and preserves their enduring sense of time through transparent layers of watercolor. When these four bodies of work are brought together, the exhibition space itself undergoes a transformation. It may be that a certain light begins to extend both within and beyond the artworks, allowing invisible relationships to emerge while retaining their transparency. As the works and the surrounding space become activated, dissonance gives way to a quiet resonance of harmony. This resonance becomes a latent medium capable of weaving the air itself, permeating not only the hotel lobby exhibition space but also the people who pass through it, the guest rooms, the objects, and every element of its environment.