His passion for photography started after meetings those in need in society who are disabled and struggle with physical and or mental illnesses. His thoughts toward this population were a little bit biased initially, but they were dramatically changed after a meeting with a mom and her disabled child. He offered to take a photo of the child, thinking that likely they would reject the offer. To his surprise, they were rather happy with the offer from a professional photographer like Makoto. He realized that his work could shed a light on those in need.

This single event eventually led him to focus on portraits. He has captured portraits of over 300 people so far, all standing straight with their feet shoulder width apart, looking directly at his lens. This specific portrait style got an attention and now called “Ishizuka-Dachi.” This is his first “Ishizuka-Dachi” photo exhibition.

Generous monetary supports, totaling $17,000, from his supporters and friends in both Japan and US made it possible to hold this exhibition.

Makoto Ishizuka himself will be in the gallery during the exhibition. Please feel free to come by. He is looking forward to meeting you there. Thank you.

They’re small, but so much more. Cute, yet realistic. Plus, they look delicious!

This bowl for a miniature bowl of ramen, for example, has to harden first. Then an hour is spent whittling it into just the right shape. For a miniature bento (box lunch), everything is made by hand, including the box. The rice, the deep-fried shrimp and all the other ingredients are hand-made, and the whole process takes over a week.

Welcome to the subtle and multi-layered world of Japan’s miniature food models!

In addition to models, you can find fashion accessories such as rice-ball and pastry ear studs and brooches.

There’s only one for you in the world. Why not find the miniature food that’s just right for you?

Are you interested in making miniature food items? Come join our workshop! Even beginners can easily start making their own miniature foods. The fun starts at 1 o’clock PM on Sunday, May 26!

この展覧会は、1930年に設立された日本の木材製品メーカー、ヨネモックによって作られたけん玉です。

展示されている全作品の中で、独自のレーザー切断技術を駆使した16種類のニシキダマのデザインは、日本の職人技の傑作です。藤山らいんを使ったけん玉の古代日本のデザインは、江戸時代初期（1600年頃）からの画家タワラヤソタツによる屏風-Eをモチーフにしています。「っけっか」「うめいこかもん」などの伝統的な和柄は、けん玉で表現できます。

また、プロのけん玉選手に人気のLEGAXIS（3種類のデザイン）を出展します。この作品は、日本で毎年開催される「けん玉ワールドカップ」で生まれ、14の国と地域から約400人のけん玉選手が集まり、2日間で合計53,000人の客が集まりました。

けん玉をつくった職人が壁のパネルに紹介されます。ゲストは、けん玉を創り出してきた職人たちの伝統的な技法とも、、、、、革新的なアイデアで情熱を感じるでしょう。愛を組み込んでいます。、そう。すること。創造的にされたけん玉をお楽しみください。

展覧会その他のパネルでは、それらのけん玉が生まれた鳥取県が、その主要なブナ林で有名な大山山（1729 m）の説明と、177以上の青銅製の水木しげるロードが紹介されます。客は、鳥取が「2019年の日本の旅行先トップ10」で、外国人がその年に訪れるべきランキングの1位にランクされた理由を経験しましょう。

RESOBOX gallery is proud to present the seventh annual exhibition from The Burns Collection & Archive. The floating world encapsulates the hedonistic urban lifestyle, especially the pleasure seeking aspects, that emerged during Edo period Japan. Images of floating world culture depict the pleasures and entertainments of Meiji Japan – the world of geishas and courtesans, kabuki actors, and sumo wrestlers. Tea houses, theaters and brothels are backdrops for the floating world’s universe of extravagance. Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world,” and in the spirit of the colorful woodblock prints created during the Edo period, this exhibit utilizes original nineteenth century hand-painted photographs reproduced on varied media, such as wood and metal, as well as original historic prints.

The Burns Collection & Archive

From the birth of photography through the modern age, with more than one million historic photographs, The Burns Archive provides photographic evidence of forgotten, unseen and disquieting aspects of history. It was established in 1975 by Stanley B. Burns, MD, FACS, a New York City ophthalmologist and photo-historian. For over forty years, thousands of publishers, exhibitors, authors, researchers, artists and filmmakers have utilized this unique source of visual documentation. The Archive is best known for images of the darker side of life – death, disease, crime, racism, revolution and war – however, a large part of the collection depicts aspects of social and cultural life. A favorite and compelling category are nineteenth-century Japanese hand-painted photographs.

Dr. Burns and his daughter Elizabeth have co-authored two books on Japanese photographic history, Setting Sun: Painted Photographs of Meiji Japan (2017) and Geisha: A Photographic History 1872-1912 (2008), which explores the life and culture of Geisha during the Meiji Era. They have produced multiple exhibitions of Japanese photography, including many at the RESOBOX Gallery, Geisha: The Golden Years 1870-1890 (2012), Working Life in Meiji Japan (2013), Japan – An Island Nation: 1870-1890 (2014), Japanese Ritual Industry: Silk, Rice & Tea (2015), Worship in Meiji Era Japan (2016) and Fujisan: Eternal Symbol of Japan (2017).

www.burnsarchive.com

Needless to say steeping tea also requires a lot of precision and care, and therefore the importance of the teapot as a tool cannot be stressed enough. A poor teapot can easily ruin a good tea but a well crafted one can on the other hand enhance both the taste and flavor. In this sense any teapot made by Isobe makes a reliable ally in the tea lovers quest for the perfect cup of tea. In my case, I even dare say that Isobe’s teapots made me in charge of my tea steeping in a way that I had never experienced so far in my life.

Perhaps it is his background as a practitioner of the art of Sencha that makes Teruyuki Isobe able to make teapots that embody both beauty and functionality at the same time. His devotion both as a potter and as an artist continues on to inspire and bring joy to tea lovers in Japan as well as overseas. Adding to that, since they are handcrafted every single teapot is unique, always making teatime a very special occasion.

A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Kotaro Isobe who studied Nihonga (Japanese style painting) at the Tokyo University of the Arts and is good at delicate nature depiction through daily sketches and nature observations. From the early stages of his work, he emphasizes the nature observation by reproducing the biotope. He paints small creatures such as frogs, insects, and flowers that are overlooked in everyday life.

In the Meiji Era, Nihonga were influenced by Western paintings and developed from traditional Japanese paintings. Especially in the postwar Nihonga, expressions that blur the outline of the picture are mainstream. However, Isobe’s paintings are composed of beautiful lines and flat paintings. His decorative expression that reminds me of that Rinpa presents one aspect of Japanese beauty that modern Japanese paintings had forgotten.

In this exhibition, we are also focusing on Yo no Bi which means beauty should be found especially in the objects of everyday life. Since ancient times in Japan, paintings are painted on everyday items and have been enjoyed as part of their lives. In addition to an ordinary painting work, works drawn on everyday items such as garbage cans and fans are also exhibited.

Opening Event

The opening reception will happen on Wednesday, October 17 at RESOBOX Chelsea, at 5:30pm featuring a musical performance by Kenji Haba. This music event is curated by Masatora Goya.

Kenji Haba
http://www.kenjihaba.com

Kenji Haba is a guitarist who heralds a new direction for classical guitar through his insight and work with the coloration of sounds, as well as through bringing new formats to the landscape, including the innovative guitar-cello ensemble. He is also an active performer of contemporary music, with over 20 pieces of music written for and premiered by him, including works featured in classical guitar magazines in Japan as well as the US. He is well known for his interpretation of Toru Takemitsu, his performances having been described as an “ideal match for Takemitsu’s music” by Fanfare.

Guest Curator

Yuki Ideguchi (born 1986) is an artist and curator. He does not only produce art works but also curates several exhibitions and has expanded his world. He received both a BFA (2011) and MFA (2013) in Japanese Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts. In his work, he blends traditional Japanese techniques with contemporary imagery and themes.

Curation

2018　Evolving Traditions – Paintings of wonder from Japan, Japan Information and Culture Center, Washington DC, USA
2017　THE FICTIONAL SCENERY, RESOBOX LIC , NY, USA
2015 　-Jecoration- Decorative Expressions of Japanese Art and Their Influences, J-collabo, Brooklyn, USA
2013　Exhibition of The Drawings, Minnano Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2012　The Drawing Exhibition “The View of Current and Old”, Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Maetake is known primarily for her sculpture and installations; central to this exhibit, INHERENT will be a series of her new bas-reliefs, which will cover the walls and ceilings of the gallery as compositional elements. Maetake calls this series, “Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief,” which showcases unusual methods that produce bright, textured wall pieces created from transformed handmade papers by exposing them to metal corrosion, thus producing expressive hues of turquoise and reddish-brown residues. The synergy between the objects and exhibition space direct the viewer’s focus to both the artwork and architecture through emphasizing the artist’s distinctive materials.

Installed on the ceiling and continuing down the walls, one of her pieces consists of a very light steel-frame within layers of the fibers. By purposely using these concrete objects, Maetake expresses a material’s physical presence in flux as it changes from one expression to another in its spatial aspects so that it withstands being captured by the viewer’s gaze. Maetake conjures various associations ranging from natural to industrial imagery and architecture: an implication metaphorically representing the artistic production life-cycle itself, translated into a statement of political and ecological configurations to be contrasted with images of our fast-paced modern life. All of these transient qualities in Maetake’s work　 suggest that the effects of time on artworks and human creation are explored as vital components of organic, natural processes.

Check out the artist talk event happening Tuesday, November 13, 2018 here.

About RESO203

RESO203 was initiated by RESOBOX that has been a constant station featuring Japanese artifacts by various artists, regardless of nationality, to disseminate the culture and philosophy of Japan. RESO203 was made in order to better nourish its cultural heritage and contemporary art multidisciplinary by active and hands-on artists in a variety of media, as well as introducing a wide range of projects by independent curators.

• info@reso203.com
• www.reso203.com

Special Thanks

mh PROJECT nyc
For more information, please contact:

• mhprojectnyc@gmail.com
• mhprojectnyc.com

Curated by Yuki Ideguchi

Tomoharu Okamura’s work focuses on the addictiveness that light-emitting objects possess.

He creates his works based on the idea that people are attracted towards a strong light source, and that they congregate around various phenomena the light generates.

Just as bright light that reaches your synapsis could cause a lasting effect on your vision, tremendously strong light could create addiction but he also believes, as various types of light brighten the dark places in the world every day, light has the primordial power to give people a feeling of peace and compassion.

Things in our daily life that emit or reflect light are of particular interest to Tomoharu.

Light of course comes in many shapes and forms such as sunlight, moon light and water glimmering seen naturally, or street lights, buildings, glass and mirrors made artificially. These days, however, it is widely recognized that staring at things like TVs, video games, computers, cellphone screens for extended periods can have a deep lasting effect on the body and mind. From prehistoric times, humans have instinctually been afraid of the dark and have always sought for brightness and therefore our vision, to this day, is easily fascinated with self-emanating light sources. It is just normal for people to be mesmerized by light-emitting objects, he believes.

In the present day, we deal with light emitting objects longer than before and the accumulation of time spent in front of such objects deepens Tomoharu’s fascination towards light and drives him to express it on his canvas.

Tomoharu’s desire for light comes from the Japanese culture as well. In Japan, gold leafed folding screens with paintings on them were created as light sources to light up the dark. You might think a gold leafed folding screen to be something of decadence but in reality, it was used in slightly dark and quiet rooms inside wooden buildings and at night they were used to reflect the moonlight or candle light and diffuse it onto the interior of the dark room. Gold foils and white paper applied on the screens therefore had the effect similar to that of a reflector board used in movie sets. White paper base surface is often left intentionally as it is and this technique is called YOHAKU-NO-BI (the beauty of the blank space). With YOHAKU-NO-BI, the blank spaces without any paint or ink applied offer a sense of the existence of ambience and humidity and this depiction of atmosphere that one cannot see is at the very heart of the essence of Japanese art.

Ensuring that the surface makes good use of gold and silver foils and blanc white spaces to reflect light in dark rooms has been perceived essential in Japanese paintings even to this day. Tomoharu incorporates metal foils in his art pieces to reflect light to make it seem as if the pieces themselves are emitting light. He carefully chooses the use of paint and motifs to support this effect and the result is our desire stemming from the addictiveness of the light in which we get ourselves bathed every day, and an opportunity for salvation evoked from this very desire, all expressed using essential elements nurtured through the history of Japanese art.

By making the canvas to emit light, his works strive to be NIHON-GA (Japanese paintings) that can light up our daily lives. The light that fills the surrounding space(s) carries within it a sense of purity and a certain presence of solemnity. Tomoharu’s works take on the role to provide a glimpse of hope that is universally significant even in this current-day world where we are all poisoned by light.

NIHONGA involves traditional mineral pigments and/or dyes mixed with NIKAWA, glue made of animal gelatin, that are then kneaded with water to make the paint which can then be applied on the [WASHI = traditional Japanese paper] canvas. Tomoharu finds the process of making his art pieces essential so he uses a technique to places layer after layer of paint over each other. Under the multiple layers of his works, at the deepest level of all, lay the ideas and embodiment of Japan’s natural climate and ethnicity firmly rooted.

He also values the Japanese culture highly and creates works in traditional art forms such as KAKEJIKU in the hope of passing on the craft to the next generation. This view is also closely related to his suggestion of YO-NO-BI (beauty of use) that the beauty that comes out as a result of design evolution through constant pursuit for ultimate convenience offers a different kind of beauty compared to that of decorations designed with particular intensions.

Opening Event

The opening reception will happen onWednesday, October 3rd at RESOBOX Chelsea, at 5:30pm featuring a musical performance by Sumire Hirotsuru and Eiko Kano on violins.

This music event is curated by Masatora Goya.

• 6:00pm – Sumire Hirotsuru
• 6:45pm – Eiko Kano

Guest Curator

Yuki Ideguchi (born 1986) is an artist and curator. He does not only produce art works but also curates several exhibitions and has expanded his world. He received both a BFA (2011) and MFA (2013) in Japanese Painting from Tokyo University of the Arts. In his work, he blends traditional Japanese techniques with contemporary imagery and themes.

Curation

What do you think are best glasses or cups to drink your favorite drinks with? Do you have a favorite type of glass to use for your alcoholic drinks like beer, wine, sake, whisky, or vodka? In Japan we say that sake wares make sake taste differently and we carefully choose which wares are better for certain drinks as we believe that the right drinking wares bring out the best taste in drinks! We would like you to find your favorite Japanese drinking ware in this exhibition!

All of our exhibited wares were made by Japanese artisans using sophisticated and traditional techniques. We hope you will enjoy our most intricate collection.

Our Drinking Wares

FD Style Lineup

KIMOTO GLASS TOKYO Lineup

NOUSAKU Lineup

AMANO SHIKKI Lineup

In this solo show, Morito attempts to fuse the Japanese traditional craft with visual arts for New Yorkers as well as people around the world. The conflict between everyday objects and fine art will be resolved with the universal language of art by Morito who was born in Mashiko and has been practicing art in New York City. Morito introduces his exquisitely glazed potteries, which show his longtime dedication to “Mingei,” and his sculptures, Mother and Child series as a new phase of Mashiko-yaki, made out of a local material from New York. Morito’s work conveying the Japanese philosophy and concept of “Mingei” from Mashiko speaks to not only Japanese but also local people in New York by emphasizing the materialism of interactions with each other. Now, he embodies the feeling of harmony that goes beyond the geographical boundaries within RESOBOX where Japanese culture resonates.

Introduction of Mashiko

Mashiko was officially village certified by the Edo government from 1853 until approximately the end of the the 19th century. The production volume of Mashiko became increasingly stabilized, consisting mainly of tableware, and was transported to Edo via the Kinugawa River. The 1920s was a turning point in history for Mashiko, and the Mingei Movement was started by a group of artists at that time. This movement of ceramic artists was led by one of its founders, Shoji Hamada in Mashiko. Hamada established an artistic cultural exchange with Bernard Leach.

An article in the NY Times dated May 12, 2000 stated the following: “ In 1920 Leach was invited to join an English artists community in St. Ives, Cornwall. Leach asked the Japanese potter Shoji Hamada to join him in St. Ives. They worked together for three years, then Hamada returned to Japan to start his own pottery studio north of Tokyo. In 1955 Hamada was named a Living National Treasure of Japan.” Another article from The NY Times dated January 6, 1978 quoted:  “Mr. Hamada settled in Mashiko in 1925. His goal was to revive the once flourishing pottery industry in Mashiko and to turn out objects that would be both serviceable and appealing.” Around the same time in 1952, Hamada, Yanagi, and Leach visited the Greenwich House Pottery in Greenwich Village in New York after giving a workshop at NYU. Hamada and Leach’s ceramic bottles can be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum in NY today.

Mother and Child

Mother and child has been one of the themes of my sculpture since 2014. This is a great theme for depicting the human condition, in terms of composition and one which is dear to my heart.

Mother and Child is the primordial image of art. The nativity is an entirely familiar scene, with the baby, the mother, and the father, and with friends and family admiring the new baby. This is a feeling common to all human beings. By picturing mother and child, I can introduce a leitmotif that crosses all geophysical boundaries – a figure drawn from the archive of big art history, art from prehistory to the modern.

The tatami invention was born from a long history. It was originally used by the royal family during the Nara era (710) and gradually became popular during the Edo era. The raw material of tatami that all Japanese people have grown to love has an antibacterial and deodorant effect, while its fragrance has a calming effect. The tatami fragrance brings the same healing effect as Shinrin’yoku or a forest bath. However, in recent years, tatami culture has been shrinking by the reduced number of Japanese-style rooms in houses.

Osamu Oda opened his first store in Tawaramoto, Nara, naming it “Oda Tatami Shop” where it still stands for 120 years today. He had an idea to revive the tatami in a new form, where he created a tatami wallet so that he could carry tatami with ease. This became the catalyst and birth of Oda Tatami. However, other than their specialization in tatami, Oda Tatami as a brand was still an amateur to other aspects. The Oda Tatami Shop that stood for 120 years held pride in their quality and would not dare to sell goods that were not top notch. As so, they searched for craftsman who sympathized with their tatami ideas and created an amazing technique for their products.

Products of Oda Tatami are not inexpensive, which is why they pledged to make high quality goods that will be appreciated by satisfied customers. Oda Tatami aims for the highest quality with the label “Made in Japan.” They cherish and hold Japanese materials and technology close to their hearts. It is Oda Tatami that brings real value with real products filled with real people’s emotions and thoughts.

For generations, lacquerware has been an essential element in the Japanese way of life to such an extent that in some countries, the name for lacquerware utensils is “Japan.”

This lacquerware includes simple wooden bowls, tea utensils such as natsume, elaborately patterned lunch boxes, hair combs, and hairpins, to name but a few. Furthermore, the word shikkoku (the color of black lacquerware) evokes a clear and deeply penetrating beauty in the minds of Japanese people.

However, many of the items that are called “lacquerware utensils” today are imitations which are made to look like lacquerware through the use of chemical paints, and this has led to a steady disappearance of genuine lacquerware products which are made using tree sap.

Most of Asanuma’s works feature pictures which take their inspiration from children’s fairy tales and picture books. She continue to create work on these familiar themes in the hope of achieving greater affinity with both children and adults alike.