YASUKO HASUMURA (b.1958, Hokkaido, Japan) manipulates Japanese washi paper and sumi ink into a unique abstract expression, capturing air, light or a fleeting instant onto canvas. Hasumura studied oil painting at Tama Art University and contemporary art theory under Lee Ufan. Greatly influenced by her encounter with Noh theatre, which she describes as a “soul-trembling experience,” Hasumura recreates this experience onto canvas.

HARUOMI IZUMI (b.1979) is a successor of “Nihonga,” the Japanese-style of painting practiced for centuries. The word Nihonga was developed in the late nineteenth century as the opposite or counter word, to the word Yo-ga, or Western painting. Characteristics of Nihonga are: use of traditional materials such as mineral pigments, a binder made of animal glue, washi paper, and subject matter such as nature and animals. Izumi studied Nihonga at Tokyo University of the Arts. His signature works, including Yukoku (The Scarlet Hour) and Sokoku (The Blue Hour), depart from traditional Nihonga and combine surreal color with obsessively repetitive patterns of trees. In this way, Izumi creates deeply textured scenes that encompass their surroundings and engulf the viewer with their rich aura.

SHIGEMI YASHURA (b. 1984 in Aichi, Japan) addresses with solemnity, the most popular subject of Nihonga: nature. Working on a signature butter-yellow background, Yasuhara depicts the branch of a tree, a vine, or a landscape in pitch perfect brush strokes and delicate colors. The paintings are fresh and captivating with the pure joy that nature paintings can offer.

ÉTIENNE KRÄHENBÜHL (b. 1953) is one of the most celebrated living artists in Switzerland. After studying metal alloys and superplastic metals, Krähenbühl started to create large scale sculptures examining the intersection of science and poetry, monumentality, gravity and weightlessness. The intention is to “test the limits of materials and bring forth movements and sounds from the depths of the earth,” according to the art critic Françoise Jaunin.