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EXHIBITION

The 24th “1_WALL” Graphics Competition Grand Prize Winner

Kozue Sagawa / Makoto Morino Exhibition: “ I leave heaven tomorrow”

  • DATES : Wed. September 21 - Sat. October 22, 2022
  • HOURS : 11:00a.m.-7:00p.m.
  • Closed Sundays and public holidays. Admission free.

    On October 6, Thursday, the gallery will close at 6:30 p.m. in order to prepare for that evening’s Talk Event.

    * Inside the gallery, all visitors are requested to submit to a temperature check, sanitize their hands, wear a face mask, and maintain a social distance of 2 meters. Persons with any of the following symptoms are requested to refrain from visiting: fever (above 37.5℃), cough, sore throat, general fatigue, etc.

Kozue Sagawa / Makoto Morino received the Grand Prize in the 24th “1_WALL” Graphics Competition (2021) for “REM,” Ms. Sagawa’s attempt to communicate with Makoto Morino, her imaginary alter ego, through artwork. Sagawa noted that “1_WALL” eligibility was open only to individual artists, and “REM” evolved out of her idea to experiment and see whether it would be possible to enter the competition as a duo consisting of herself and an imaginary person.

“REM” began on the premise that a work arrived at Sagawa’s home from Makoto Morino, a wood panel framed by what appeared to be paint. Sagawa then attempted to create a joint work in collaboration with Morino. Using drooling, licking, and candle flame blowing as her means of expression, she created an illustration to augment Morino’s original work. The judges gave high marks to the elaboration of a premise of exhibiting with an imaginary person, and to Sagawa’s creative devices.

In her solo exhibition, Kozue Sagawa will take what she did for group shows one step further, displaying images of the morning of the last day, when daily repetition comes to an end. Likening the whole venue to a room, she links multiple pieces of copy paper on which she makes illustrations drawn in pastels, pencil and mechanical pencil, three-dimensional works, and installations combined with live performances. Through these works she communicates with Makoto Morino.

Visitors will have an opportunity to see how Kozue Sagawa / Makoto Morino have evolved in the year since winning the Grand Prize. A talk event featuring Sagawa, Morino and editor Kiyonori Muroga will take place on October 6 (Tue).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kozue Sagawa / Makoto Morino

Born in 1997. Graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design with a concentration in Visual Des...

Message from the Artist
I leave heaven tomorrow. When I get up in the morning, to my relief the place where I scratched myself yesterday has already begun to heal. I go down to the kitchen and take a drink of water. I get myself ready, somehow with a feeling like I’m looking down on myself from above. I resent this ingrained morning routine of mine. Before I know it, this last day of mine just goes on and on.
I leave heaven tomorrow. Sensing something odd, I make a point of not looking at the middle of the room or at the floor of the bedroom. I’m trying not to think about anything. I’m OK, because there are people keeping an eye on me the whole time.
I leave heaven tomorrow. Here is real, and outside is real too. But no matter where I am, it’s that way too.
I leave heaven tomorrow. Where have I come from and where am I going? Not to worry, I can stay here forever.
I leave heaven tomorrow. Will I be saved by communication with the outside world? I think of it like an imaginary ceremony. Communication, I hope you will guide the way for me and everyone, as properly as possible.
I leave heaven tomorrow. Stay well, everybody.

Early in the morning, I board the departing ship. I stand at the entrance to communication and stamp my feet. You are leaving here.

Kozue Sagawa / Makoto Morino

Message from One of the Judges
The people Ms. Sagawa depicts gaze in clear directions. With manga eyes, characters typically gaze at one another, but occasionally they look straight at us. It seems to have something to do with being told to always look people in the eye when you talk to them. So, who are the people in these works looking at? Maybe Makoto Morino, maybe me.
Ms. Sagawa recently tweeted that she’s embarrassed to draw manga, but added that she didn’t think there is anything wrong with feeling embarrassed and that she still had lots of time to think about it. What she wrote made a great impression on me. Otaku culture/natives, natural-born/anime generation… Now, when meta or citation time has passed and secondary creativity and activities by coteries don’t take place underground, her ideas and pride toward drawing manga as a means of expression teach me what I want to know both as one who draws and as one who observes.
To confess, Ms. Sagawa was a pupil in one of my seminars. At the time, I thought that Ms. Sagawa, if anyone, would be able to answer my questions, and I still feel that way.

Kuniko Nagasaki, Illustrator

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Organizer: Guardian Garden