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In Memory of MOTOMIYA Kaoru
[Currently on View]
[Temporary Closure Today]
With the cooperation of the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection and Mizuma Art Gallery, In Memory of MOTOMIYA Kaoru, curated by NAKAZAWA Hideki, is currently on view at Mizuma Art Gallery.
Exhibition period: June 24–July 4, 2026. Closed Sunday and Monday.
We are grateful that many visitors have already come to see the exhibition, and it has been very warmly received. We sincerely look forward to welcoming those who have not yet seen it, as well as those who wish to visit again.
Due to the effects of the typhoon, the gallery is temporarily closed today, Saturday, June 27.
It will reopen as usual from Tuesday, June 30.
In Memory of MOTOMIYA Kaoru continues through Saturday, July 4.
MIZUMA ART GALLERY
2F Kagura Bldg., 3-13 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 162-0843 JAPAN
tel: +81.3.3268.2500 fax: +81.3.3268.8844 https://mizuma-art.co.jp/
Hours: Tue.-Sat. 12:00-19:00
Closed on Sun., Mon. & holidays
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This exhibition commemorates the late artist MOTOMIYA Kaoru (1963–2022). Since Motomiya’s sudden passing on December 1, 2022, considerable time has been required to organize the artworks and archival materials she left behind. Through the curatorial initiative of NAKAZAWA Hideki, together with the cooperation of the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection and Mizuma Art Gallery, this memorial exhibition has now been brought to fruition.
Beginning her artistic practice in the 1990s, Motomiya focused on the relationship between the human body and its surrounding environment, presenting numerous installations both in Japan and internationally. Among these, the “Trace the Skin” series, developed around the year 2000, stands as a significant project that reexamined the boundaries and identity of the self.
The exhibition features a reinstallation of Motomiya’s representative work “Internal Dress, Internal Quilt” (1999-2000, Takahashi Ryutaro Collection), which has been preserved in perfect condition. Composed of fowling net and approximately 8,000 marshmallows, the work conceives of the digestive tract—which absorbs food into the body—as a second skin. By reversing the relationship between interior and exterior and rendering it visible as a surface exceeding 30 square meters, the work transforms it into a delicate garment extending outward into the surrounding environment that constitutes everyday life.
Motomiya also left behind a substantial body of video works. Some exist as independent moving-image pieces, while others functioned as essential components of installations or as documentation of the long-term project “Restoration Regeneration,” developed throughout the 2000s through encounters with people, other living beings, and environments around the world. The exhibition screens “Overflow,” a representative work from the “Canon on the Table” project developed around 2002.
According to the artist’s own classification of her work during her lifetime, her oeuvre consisted of nineteen projects in total. Many involved overseas site-specific exhibitions and process-based practices, and consequently, much of the surviving material exists in fragmentary form, as elements, documents, or archival remnants. In conjunction with the exhibition, a text by KAMIYAMA Ryoko (curator and researcher of postwar Japanese art history), who participated in part of the ongoing research into these works, has been published.
Motomiya, who also presented research in the field of history of medical art, worked in her early career as a graphic designer and later became a certified instructor in both the Urasenke tea ceremony tradition and the KOZAN-RYU school of ikebana. These aspects of her multifaceted career is reflected in the chronology prepared by the curator.
This exhibition seeks to illuminate the trajectory of an artist whose life ended at the age of 58, as well as the breadth of her thought and practice.
— NAKAZAWA Hideki, Artist
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■DM［PDF］
https://www.aloalo.co.jp/motomiyakaoru1963-2022/exhibition01/dm.pdf
■Press Release & Artist Profile (Website of Mizuma Art Gallery)
https://mizuma-art.co.jp/en/exhibitions/2606_motomiya/
■Commentary on the Exhibited Works by NAKAZAWA Hideki
https://www.aloalo.co.jp/motomiyakaoru1963-2022/exhibition01/commentary_e.html
※To coincide with the exhibition, a new essay, "Research Notes on MOTOMIYA Kaoru", by KAMIYAMA Ryoko (Curator and Researcher of Postwar Japanese Art), has been published.
https://www.aloalo.co.jp/motomiyakaoru1963-2022/booklet01/kamiyama_e.html
※To coincide with the exhibition, the booklet "Artist MOTOMIYA Kaoru" has been published.
https://www.aloalo.co.jp/motomiyakaoru1963-2022/booklet01/booklet01_e.html
※To coincide with the exhibition, the website MOTOMIYA Kaoru 1963–2022 has been launched.
It also includes a link to the website the artist created during her lifetime.
https://www.aloalo.co.jp/motomiyakaoru1963-2022/index_e.html
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I have not yet been able to hold a formal gathering in memory of my late wife.
I would like this memorial exhibition to serve in its place.
I will try to be present at the gallery as much as possible during the remaining exhibition period, so please feel free to speak with me.
June 27, 2026
NAKAZAWA Hideki
Internal Dress｜1999｜8000 mashmallows, fowling net｜Photography by KUROKAWA Mikio｜Takahashi Ryutaro Collection
MOTOMIYA Kaoru in the studio, March 30, 2001, ISP, New York, Photography by CHEUNG Ching Ming
Booklet "Artist MOTOMIYA Kaoru" (incl. "Research Notes on MOTOMIYA Kaoru" by KAMIYAMA Ryoko)