HIROYOSHI ASAKA (b. 1977, Osaka, Japan) presents his signature series of marble sculptures meticulously rendered to represent blocks of Styrofoam. The artist plays on the drama and surprise of these contrasting opposites, Styrofoam and marble. Asaka intrigues viewers and challenges conventional views on materiality and representation. Despite the lightness and disposability depicted with the subject matter, the marble sculptures are hand-carved entirely by Asaka. This showcases the artist’s conceptual interests as well as his masterful skill as a stone carver.

ALEXA HOYER (b. Hamburg, Germany) is a NYC-based Visual Artist working in photography. For Chicago Expo, Hoyer will present work from her ongoing series “Targets,” featuring homemade gun targets in the Nevada desert. The artist traveled to unregulated shooting sites adjacent to Las Vegas, where people shoot recreationally, bringing random everyday items — wood cut-outs, plastic containers, and signs — to use as targets, then left behind, riddled with bullet holes. The "found" assemblages are framed and "shot" again by Hoyer with her camera. The result is unsettling with dark humor and surprising whimsy. The targets resemble readymade sculptures or anti-shrines to mass consumerism, environmental crisis, and American gun culture.

TOSHIYUKI KAJIOKA (b. 1978, Tokyo, Japan) presents new work from his “Riverscape” series. The monolithic black paintings are rendered with meticulous brushwork in sumi ink and graphite on Japanese washi paper. The series has been the artist’s life work for the last twenty years. Every evening, Kajioka walks to the waterfront in his neighborhood and observes flowing water until sunrise. Back in the studio he recreates images from his memories of the flowing water. Some are calm, others are aggressive. Kajioka’s paintings capture time and being in the transcendental wilderness.