Precious time Exhibition

Began at Shiba Park Hotel in 1994. Starting with restaurant “Primula”, studied the essence of “Escoffier” at French restaurant “Four Seasons”. Assumed position as head chef of ART Lounge and The Society at Park Hotel Tokyo. Offers a diverse selection of cuisine centered on the “freedom of creation” that represents the atmosphere of Park Hotel Tokyo.

– Graduated from New York Bartending School.
– While studying at the university, he studied classical cocktails in New York and then he went to Europe to study mixology cocktails.
– Besides working at Park Hotel Tokyo as a bar manager, after winning awards in various competitions, he launched the Gastronomy Algorithm that creates new cocktails with companies, makes a collaboration of chef’s dish and his cocktails, opens seminar, produces bar tools, and more, and he is active all over the world.
– While keeping the traditional style in his mind, he uses the latest bar tools, unconventional materials, and cooking techniques to finish cocktails, and he has belief of taking lessons from history.

An expression of gentleness and calmness, this artwork’s character quickly aroused my curiosity and encouraged me to write on it. The conspicuous and charming part of the woman is her pink nose. According to Kako Morimoto, the creator of the artwork, the nose connects humans and nature as it takes in and out energy generated by breathing. She sees the nose as a great player and the “connecting role” concept appears in most of her paintings. Morimoto said that she is the character in the painting; that the title was delivered by her brain after completing the artwork. I think that “Footsteps of Smoke” is a perfect definition of a little dark, soft and romantic pink-nosed woman. The image that comes is of being lost in dreams, wishing to repeat wonderful moments. I see the world of a rainy morning when one stays cozy everytime I look at the painting. It makes me feel like spending a quiet day free of pressure, enjoying one’s pace, and swimming in meditation.

I became interested in the name of the drawing series “夢結び”. That is why I looked up its meaning, and found the following,
The ” Dream ” in “Dream Knot Series” is your goal, the image of who you want to be in the future.
Wishing to be healthy is a “Dream Knot Series”.
God will give you good fortune and the power to go forward if you take action toward the dream with your own will.
As Tomoko Wada said, the name of the drawing series “夢結び” means “dream” and “sleep”. It was her university master’s degree work. During this time, she was influenced by changes in her life. When she was creating this series, she remembered her childhood and felt nostalgic and sad because she couldn’t go back to the past. By this work, Tomoko Wada wants to show the desire to sleep peacefully without any concerns as it was when she was a child. It means, even if you had some painful bad memories, you can leave them behind. If you pay more attention to your good memories, you will overcome your sadness and worries.

In this series, you can see different characters, including herself being a child. In this work, she used pastel colors. Different childhood memories are shown through various blanket patterns. The memories can change after some time but only the positive feelings are left.
Thus, she used light warm colors that represent her sweet serene past.

This artwork is a story that expresses the “real world” and the “world in the mirror”.
The characters in the story transformed into toys are placed on the piano.They are the pink soldiers fighting in the fictional world of the game, The Three Graces from Greek mythology, Trojan horse, and a robot with a rose ring and golden arrow.
Now, did you notice that there is a difference between the world in the front and the one reflected in the back?
What doesn’t actually exist is reflected in the mirror, and what should exist is not reflected.

However, look at the letters written on the front legs of the rocking horse. In the mirror world, what is reflected is reversed left and right, and things are flipped.
The moment you realize this; the world of this painting will be reversed. And then, you will find out that the one in the front is actually the world in the mirror, and the other one reflected behind is the real world.

There is a genre of still-life paintings, called “Vanitas”.
It describes vanity of life by drawing principally skulls, gold and silver treasures, and hourglasses, etc.

Today, we live in an advanced world that is controlled by the internet, full of lies, stimulating, yet pleasant.
The artist Mr. Toizumi mentioned that she has felt vanity living in this world, it motivated him to want to make and draw the new genre “Vanitas of current-day”.
People put their own energy and time in to the unreal world mentioned above.
In parallel with it, time passes, it will never come back again. In everyday life, I try to think about how I should put my energy and time.
I personally hate not being able to put my energy into things and situations where I’m capable of doing something.
If you do not see-through and think about the essence of things in real life, you keep putting your finite energy and time into things that will never change and are unavoidable.
Once too often, you will finish your own life sooner or later. This artwork made me rediscover “Life of vanity”, however, I did not take it in a negative way, it gave me a hint and taught me how I should work towards my life goals.
If you face a choice or want to take a step ahead towards something yourself, I recommend you to talk with this artwork as well as other artworks of Mr. Toizumi…
They could throw some light on you and give you a push.

“Zenzai”, comforting as though gently staying close to your heart.

The origin of the word “Zenzai” is said to come from a phrase verbalized by the well-known monk Ikkyu, expressing how delicious his first taste of zenzai was.
Moreover, in Buddhism, it means celebrating joy.
Within the design of the artwork, the artist incorporated the joy of sharing the excitement of the taste of zenzai with the animals in the woods.
That unforgettable taste. It’s those little things in life that give us joy.

Please enjoy this memorable grand work of art!

What shape of the moon do you see?
I see a crescent moon that looks like a smiling mouth. The thin but firm light of the crescent moon seems to illuminate the green space as if it gently envelopes the greenery.

This work is impressive with the blue of the dark night and the green of the green space that stands out in the dark night.
Yet, it does not make us feel cold or lonely at all, but rather the green space that is illuminated by the moonlight seems to be a calming and peaceful place.

The moon shows us various forms. A thin crescent moon, a big full moon, a half-moon like a big smiling mouth, or a new moon of silence. Each of you should be able to see your own moon.
What shape of the moon do you see?

In Japan, “tsumamigui” is a playful act of taking a small bite of food. This artwork expresses a festive scene where animals of Australia praise the little pleasure in our daily life called “taking a bite”.

In recent years, changes in the natural environment have caused forest fires around the world. As a result, many Australian animals have been affected. When I visited Australia, I had the opportunity of interacting with many animals. That’s why I felt a strong connection with this artwork. By painting these animals this way, the artist hopes that people will feel the vitality of animals. She also praises those who are working positively despite the uncertain situations we are facing now, and wishes to support them to get through it together.

Somewhere, a koala is also secretly praising them. I hope you will enjoy the expressive faces of these animals.