Yutaka Kikutake Gallery is pleased to present “Maruyulate / Marugalate,” a solo exhibition of works by Kisho Mwkaiyama from April 6^th to May 19^th. Over the course of his artistic practice, Mwkaiyama has continued to explore ways to capture the fleeting transitions of light through works that appropriate wax. In recent years he has produced works on canvas in an effort to consider possibilities of generating light itself upon its surface as a support medium. Following on from his previous two exhibitions “Luminous / Lunar” (2016) and “Veda / Vedarta” (2017), this exhibition marks the third installment of a trilogy that serves to approach the presence of light by means of works depicted on wax and works on canvas.

In “Luminous / Lunar” Mwkaiyama presented works that conveyed the faint and fleeting presence of light (the foremost transitions in light), and in “Veda / Vendarta” had endeavored a more multilayered experiment with works that simultaneously depicted the presence of darkness that instills light with depth, which changed dramatically in expression in accordance to the ways by which the light illuminated their surface. In this exhibition, Mwkaiyama draws inspiration from the experience of Gachirinkan, a method of meditation that concerns the contemplation of moonlight within one’s mind, and overlaying the conditions of this light with the existence of the self. Conceived as a result are a series of new canvas works that capture the appearance of moonlight, delivered to us from afar and which since ancient times has long served as a significant theme in spirituality, literature, and art, which on this occasion are presented alongside a selection of his early wax works.

Two full moons. The moon wavering Maruyulate. In the Marugalate that begins its gentle rotation, there is a ring of light upon the canvas that glows with the light of the moon and the sun. To me, colors are my material, and accompanied by temperature and rhythm, spherically illuminate space without any distinct sense of direction. The main wooden form that serves as the work’s supporting core reveals itself from within the wax to speak the distinct sacred words –Margarance and Margadeps. Perhaps it is a metaphor from the heavens. Hands pressed together in prayer inform the truth that both the single glowing bodies of the moon and the sun are indeed made of two entities.

Kisho Mwkaiyama

Mwkaiyama was born in 1968 in Osaka, and currently lives and works in Tokyo. Mwkaiyama spent his childhood in Mount Koya, recognized as one of Japan’s most prominent locations of esoteric Buddhist temples, and as a child had found himself enticed by the tranquil environment of his surroundings and the Buddhist art that existed within it. This childhood experience had essentially lead Mwkaiyama to concern himself with the fundamental presence of light, a motif that he has consistently worked with since the beginning of his artistic career. is recent canvas works employ delicately controlled colors as their material which are painted repeatedly in overlapping layers, and while changing their appearance in various ways, invites viewers to experience the realm of his practice through the keywords of history, light, and human spirit.