Why view works in a gallery?

Ryohei Saito won the Grand Prize in the 5th “1_WALL” Graphics Competition for his “scribblings,” accompanied by words, drawn by ballpoint pen. His nonsensical humorous works and the odd way he displayed them, on long rolls suggestive of toilet paper, made the viewer question, “Is this art?” One judge admired what he described as Saito’s works’ “delightful and carefully executed balance between entertainment and affectation.” Another applauded Saito’s display method, saying it was both “totally unprecedented and perfect for his graphic style.”

Saito has always drawn whatever happens to come to mind, but how he displays his accumulated works is carefully conceived. For the 5th “1_WALL” Graphics Competition, he says his aim was to create works and a method of displaying them that would bring a smile to the faces of those who saw them, making them fun even for people with no interest in art.

For his very first solo exhibition, Saito shifted his focus to the act of visiting the gallery to see his works. He attempts to display his works in a way that can be experienced only by those who enter the physical space of the gallery – an experience not possible by browsing through a book of collected works or looking at works posted on the internet. Visitors are eagerly invited to come see how Saito will display his two-dimensional works in the gallery’s three-dimensional space.

Saito will be showing his portfolio of previously created ballpoint pen drawings as well as all-new oil paintings. Visitors will surely enjoy what they see.