-Firefly of the dark- Kenjiro Takada Art Exhibition

We announce the 21st ART colours Exhibition celebrating the four seasons of Japan in art: -Firefly of the dark- Kenjiro Takada Art Exhibition.

When we think of summer night scenes in Japan, we think of fireflies.
In olden times, they were mentioned in Nihon Shoki (the oldest chronicles of Japan) and extolled in many Japanese poems, and their description in the Pillow Book is well-known: “In summer, the nights. Not only when the moon shines, but on dark nights too, the fireflies flit to and fro.” The fantastic sight of fireflies along the riverside in the night breeze of a hot summer is a special moment that can only be experienced for a short time. The beauty of the flashing light from fireflies that melt into the darkness still captures people’s hearts today as it used to in the past, leaving them with a memory which is vivid, yet fleeting, and somehow unreal.

We will exhibit works by Kenjiro Takada who makes line drawings that recall the trajectory of the light from fireflies. He is a young, contemporary Japanese artist who, with his outstanding and unique style using fluorescent pigments based on traditional Japanese painting, is now drawing much attention. His works, as if enclosing continuous spectral lines, are painted on thin fabrics that can be seen through the other side, and evoke ghosts (human souls) in which the energy rising up in the gaps due to confluence between the inner and the outer, is visualized.

For the exhibition period only, in the “ART Lounge”, you can enjoy dessert inspired by the works on exhibit, while at “The Society” bar, you can savor original exhibition cocktail. At night, we will project powerful images based on the works as motifs on a wall 30m in height. Day and night, at the upper and lower venues, we look forward to your visit to this exhibition which offers a wide variety of enjoyable moments. This summer, why not come to see the fireflies in art at Shiodome?