Ginza Maison Hermès Forum will host a solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Minato Mari titled "Utsuwa, Tadata Hitonami" (Transition, Floating Flow of People) from March 28th.

Utsuwa * The preparatory study of the facade painting | 2018 | © Baptiste François

Mari Minato was born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1981. After majoring in Japanese painting at Kyoto City University of Arts and its graduate school, she went on to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She is known for her style of painting abstract motifs in vivid colors directly onto walls and buildings. Although these paintings evoke bold, improvisational gestures, they are actually the result of meticulous research and observation based on sketches, tracing back to the origins of various civilizations and highlighting the traces and distortions of things that have been shared or forgotten throughout history.

This exhibition, which signifies "The Changing World and the Activities of People," is Minato Mari's first solo exhibition in Japan. In addition to the regular gallery exhibition, she has also painted on the glass block facade of Maison Hermès, marking her first attempt to express the changing flow of time and light both inside and outside the building.

Sans Titre (Série Gaulois) Montrouge, France | 2014 | © Fabrice Gousset

The façade painting "Utsuwa" (Vessel), which will be unveiled prior to the exhibition, is a work inspired by the universal existence of "vessels," which are deeply connected to human civilization, and glass buildings that coexist with time and light and embrace their surroundings. The gallery will exhibit works focusing on several motifs that have played important roles in different civilizations and cultures, from the Yellow River civilization to Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Islam. From an anthropological perspective, the artist expresses the cultural mixing and exchange seen in religious objects such as statues and amulets made from stone, terracotta, bone, iron, and ceramic, as well as everyday items such as vessels and tools.

What historical events do these meditative works, which evoke thoughts of ancient times, reflect, and what traces do they leave on the viewer?