Featuring Kohei NAWA, Daisuke OHBA, and the director Kengo KITO as exhibitors, “Taiyo” was held to celebrate the opening of MtK Contemporary Art. With the hope of re-interpreting the history and exploring possibilities of contemporary art, the exhibition presented new art series and “pix-cell” series of Kohei NAWA, “carwheel galaxy” series of Kengo KITO, and the latest holographic paintings of Daisuke OHBA.

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Kengo KITO 

Born in Aichi, 1977. Currently resides in Gunma. Kengo Kito has created large-scale installations incorporating ready-made objects, such as fabrics, ribbons, strings, and mirrors. In "Untitled (hula-hoop)," featured at the Hudson River Museum in New York in 2023, the artist interconnected hundreds of vibrant hula hoops and integrated them throughout the exhibition space. Similarly, "Ghost Flowers," unveiled at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art in 2020, showcased thousands of hand mirrors reflecting images of flowers. Kito has delved into expanding the meanings embedded within an array of ready-made materials. It is worth noting that Kito considers this arrangement of ready-made objects in space as akin to the process of painting. The artist’s exploration encompasses the dynamic interplay of color, form, and light in both installation and painting contexts. The new series of paintings presented in this exhibition are not conceived as standalone paintings but rather as installations. By seamlessly transitioning between elements of both disciplines, the artist blurs the boundaries between painting and installation, fostering interaction between them.

Major exhibitions include "RECONNECTING" at Japan House, Los Angeles, CA, U.S. (2021), "DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow Exhibition 2021" at The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (2021), and "Full Lightness" at Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan (2020).

Kohei NAWA

Born in 1975 in Osaka, Japan, Kohei Nawa received a PhD in Fine Art/Sculpture from Kyoto City University of Arts in 2003, and established Sandwich in 2009. He is now a professor at the Kyoto University of the Arts. Nawa has been exhibited in Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo , 2011), Louvre Museum (Paris, 2018), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art (Kanazawa, 2019), Pace Gallery New York (New York, 2022), Pace Gallery (Seoul, 2023). The permanent collection include the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), The National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne). Works between Kyoto and Tokyo.