Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Beijing) is pleased to present “comings and goings”, a solo exhibition by Danshaku Miyazawa.

Danshaku Miyazawa’s work was selected for inclusion in the “Tokyo Wonder Wall 2004” open call exhibition organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2004. He has held both a two-person exhibition together with Nozomi Kobayashi (2008) as well as a one-man show (2010) at Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo), in addition to participating in numerous art fairs.

This exhibition showcases a selection of around 50 artworks, including both early pieces and examples of his most recent output, which illustrate the evolution of his practice and the myriad changes it has gone through.

The Chinese title of the exhibition, xiao xi, describes a concept taken from ancient Chinese philosophy. Xiao refers to the dissipating of gloom and melancholy, while xi indicates the onset of a brighter, more cheerful outlook. The moment in which one reaches the end of an inhalation, where melancholy exhausts itself, is also when the lighter mood that comes from exhaling kicks in.

Miyazawa uses countless fine lines and circles with a pencil, as well as blots of water-color to depict human figures with ambiguous, undefined forms. These images are not fixed to the pictorial surface, giving viewers the impression of constant flux and movement – just like the respiratory “comings and goings” of living beings. Miyazawa’s paintings are metaphors for the fickle, transient and uncertain moods of the contemporary human condition.

From the artist:

We think we have arrived at some sort of absolute understanding and conviction about the world, but this is something that can only happen because we are incomplete and idle, totally lacking in understanding and self-knowledge. We go through a series of actions and motions without accomplishing anything. These works convey a mix of strength and powerlessness, of both progress and degeneration at one and the same time. We haven’t really seen or learnt anything – just as if we had been gazing steadily at the expanse of a closed world. Falling particles that pile up and accumulate, just like granules of sand dissolving in water.

- Danshaku Miyazawa