The 20th “1_WALL” Graphics Exhibition is part of an open competition for the right to mount a solo show at Guardian Garden. The exhibition will feature works by six finalists after two rounds of judging: the first round focusing on all entrants’ portfolios, and the second round consisting of one-on-one discussions between the graphic designers selected in the initial round and the judges. For this group exhibition, each finalist is allocated one wall on which to show his or her works.
The final round of judging will take place on February 21 (Thu), i.e. while the exhibition is in progress. During this round, which is open to the public, the six finalists will each give a presentation of his or her works, and the judges will then discuss the relative merits of the six contenders’ works and select the Grand Prize winner. The winner’s prize is the privilege of holding a solo show at the gallery one year later, plus 200,000 yen to prepare for the show.
As always, this latest in the series of “1_WALL” Graphics Exhibitions brings together six diverse up-and-coming young designers. Mai Kato creates lithographs using the motif of traces on her wall left by tape, nicks, stains, etc. Manami Kawamura creates realistic graphics. Serena Nagai depicts people staring off into the void. Yoko Hoshino makes graphical installations. Ryo Yanagida draws specific instants on spliced pieces of paper. Moe Yamauchi uses oil paints to draw computer graphics she herself created.
Mai Kato
Born in 1994. Currently studying Printmaking in the Graduate Program of Tama Art University.
“wall”
I created works using the motif of the wall of my studio I use every day. By depicting the traces of tape and other things I attached to the walls, nicks and so on, I expressed how time flows within the supporting layer.
Manami Kawamura
Born in 1996. Currently studying Visual Design at Joshibi University of Art and Design.
“SCOOT”
Using vector data, I depict movement inside the Earth.
Serena Nagai
Born in 1994. Graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design with a concentration in Visual Design.
“The Meaning of Our Being”
Meaningless though it is, I think about it anyway.
Yoko Hoshino
Born in 1991. Currently studying Painting in the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts.
“‘FIGURE OUT”
Searching for the instant when things are no longer things, I make paintings passing back and forth between the second and third dimensions. I hope to capture the moment when things, invisible to the eye, change.
Ryo Yanagida
Born in 1997. Currently studying in the Photography and Video Course, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, of Kyoto University of Art & Design.
“Failure”
When I try to create things at their “core”—with a sense of killer technique (motion effect)—I fail; and when I deviate from the core, that’s when they emerge.
Moe Yamauchi
Born in 1998. Currently studying Oil Painting at Musashino Art University.
“Approaching Graphics”
If expressions were placed there, what kind of expression would you make? I set them out because I want to know. The start-up switch for communication.
Born in 1994. Currently studying Printmaking in the Graduate Program of Tama Art University.
Born in 1996. Currently studying Visual Design at Joshibi University of Art and Design.
Born in 1994. Graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design with a concentration in Visual Des...
Yoko Hoshino
Born in 1991. Currently studying Painting in the Graduate School of Tokyo University of the Arts.
Born in 1997. Currently studying in the Photography and Video Course, Department of Fine and Applied...
Born in 1998. Currently studying at Musashino Art University, with a concentration in Oil Painting.
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Judges (in Japanese syllabary order)
Yuri Uenishi（Art Director／Graphic designer）
Art director and graphic designer Yuri Uenishi was born in Tokyo in 1987. In 2010, on graduating from Tama Art University with a concentration in Graphic Design, she joined Dentsu. Independence in 2021. Her works to date include the “World Table Tennis Championships 2015” poster (TV Tokyo) and Laforet Grand Bazar 2019 summer. Her hobbies are travel and mountain climbing in winter. She has visited 42 countries so far.
Atsuki Kikuchi（Graphic designer）
Born in Tokyo in 1974. He attended Musashino Art University, majoring in Sculpture. In 2000 he established Bluemark, and then in 2011 he founded his own design studio. His work areas include brand planning, logo design, signage planning, editorial design, etc., with a strong focus on art, fashion and architecture. He is also the principal of Book Peak, planners and publishers of art books.
Dainippon Type Organization An experimental typography group formed in 1993 by Hidechika – the one with a beard but no surname – and Tetsuya Tsukada – the one with a surname but no beard. For 25 years now, they have been playing with writing systems, probing new concepts through their experiments in disarticulating, combining and reconfiguring the written word.
Jun Tsuzuki（Illustrator）
Illustrator born in Tokyo in 1962. A graduate of Musashino Art University, between the 1980s and into the new millennium he garnered numerous awards in graphics competitions and for his contributions to advertising. In 2010 he mounted the exhibition “New Eidos,” followed in 2013 by “Jun Tsuzuki x Hideki Nakazawa.” In 2015 he held a lecture on “After New Eidos / An Investigation of 1980-2000.” He supervised and contributed to “Nihon Irasutore-shonshi” [A History of Japanese Illustration]. He also supervises and appears on NHK’s “Art 1” program for high school students.jti.ne.jp
Kenjiro Hosaka Kenjiro Hosaka, born in 1976, is curator of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Among the major exhibitions he has curated are “Francis Bacon” (2013), “The Voice Between: The Art and Poetry of Yoshimasu Gozo” (2016), and “The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945” (2017). He regularly contributes to several magazines, and he has penned essays for the JAGDA Yearbook (2014) and gggBooks 95 (Kazunari Hattori). Photo by Keizo Kioku.
Organizer: Guardian Garden
