Panta Rhei: Everything Flows: Works by Five Artists on Japanese Washi Paper

  • Overview
    Panta Rhei: Everything Flows, Works by Five Artists on Japanese Washi Paper

          Ippodo Gallery presents selected washi artworks by five Japanese artists (KAKU, Mami Kato, Yasue Maetake, Ryuji Taira, Kaori Teraoka) working with traditional paper in diverse modes. Panta Rhei: Everything Flows unveils new perspectives in Japanese paper, transforming the medium into voluminous crafted planes. Washi is a medium in flux, intertwined with Japanese cultural memory and each artist’s sensibility.

          Washi (fibers of gampi, mulberry kozo and mitsumata, and the hemp mashi, among many others) is treasured for its longevity, as the extraordinarily long, thin fibers—which are both durable and flexible—are slow to degrade. Japan’s paper tradition has maintained a broad and profound influence on art, culture, life, and architecture for a millennium.These five artists, working with the flat material in both two- and three-dimensions, demonstrate the beauty and tenaciousness of Japanese paper as a form of artistic expression.

     

    The exhibition is on view from April 27th through May 17th.

     

    Ippodo Gallery is committed to creating shared empathetic, craft-oriented experiences through engagement with Japanese art and culture. We continue to showcase work by living artists that adheres to our mission to cultivate beauty with a consciousness of the fragility of nature and the strength of quiet serenity. Ippodo Gallery has worked directly with over 200 artists and held thousands of exhibitions over three decades. We are grateful to continue to bring contemporary Japanese fine art and sensibility to Western audiences. Keiko Aono founded Ippodo Gallery Tokyo in 1996, with two locations in the heart of Ginza and the residential area of Gotenyama. Daughter Shoko Aono opened Ippodo Gallery in New York in 2008, forging new connections with a global audience. Since then, she continues to witness the timeless cross-cultural impact of Japanese kogei art that transcends language.

  • Works
    • Mami Kato, Coral (black), 2022
      Mami Kato, Coral (black), 2022
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    • Mami Kato, Coral (white), 2022
      Mami Kato, Coral (white), 2022
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    • Mami Kato, Kunsho-mo plankton, 2023
      Mami Kato, Kunsho-mo plankton, 2023
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    • Mami Kato Lace-leaf [Framed], 2022 Gampi Paper, Gouache
      Mami Kato
      Lace-leaf [Framed], 2022
      Gampi Paper, Gouache
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    • Mami Kato Plant sway (green) [Framed], 2023 Gampi Paper, Gouache
      Mami Kato
      Plant sway (green) [Framed], 2023
      Gampi Paper, Gouache
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    • Mami Kato Plant sway [Framed], 2023 Gampi Paper, Gouache
      Mami Kato
      Plant sway [Framed], 2023
      Gampi Paper, Gouache
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    • KAKU "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(130号　螺旋・和紙), 2022 Washi paper, wire, paint
      KAKU
      "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(130号　螺旋・和紙), 2022
      Washi paper, wire, paint
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    • KAKU "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(100号　螺旋・彩色紫) Painting
      KAKU
      "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(100号　螺旋・彩色紫)
      Painting
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    • KAKU "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(60号　螺旋・彩色青と赤) Painting
      KAKU
      "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(60号　螺旋・彩色青と赤)
      Painting
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    • KAKU "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(50号　螺旋・彩色黄) Painting
      KAKU
      "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(50号　螺旋・彩色黄)
      Painting
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    • KAKU "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(25号　螺旋・彩色赤) Painting
      KAKU
      "Untitled" (Wire, Washi, Paint) -「無題」(25号　螺旋・彩色赤)
      Painting
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    • KAKU Pure Spiral 100 Painting
      KAKU
      Pure Spiral 100
      Painting
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    • KAKU, "Untitled"「無題」Wire, Washi, Paint（50号　螺旋・和紙）
      KAKU, "Untitled"「無題」Wire, Washi, Paint（50号　螺旋・和紙）
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    • KAKU Speckled Spiral 30 Painting
      KAKU
      Speckled Spiral 30
      Painting
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    • Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief and Grid I, 2021
      Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief and Grid I, 2021
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    • Yasue Maetake Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief XIII, 2018-2022 Verdigris on Boiled and Beaten Kozo, Gampi, Cotton Linter
      Yasue Maetake
      Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief XIII, 2018-2022
      Verdigris on Boiled and Beaten Kozo, Gampi, Cotton Linter
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    • Yasue Maetake Printed Tannins on Fiber Relief I, 2019 Tannins from Hyacinth, Pine Tree on Beaten Kozo, Gampi, Cotton Linter
      Yasue Maetake
      Printed Tannins on Fiber Relief I, 2019
      Tannins from Hyacinth, Pine Tree on Beaten Kozo, Gampi, Cotton Linter
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    • Yasue Maetake, A23908 -Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief XI
      Yasue Maetake, A23908 -Printed Oxidation on Fiber Relief XI
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    • Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Black on Fiber Relief
      Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Black on Fiber Relief
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    • Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief
      Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief
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    • Yasue Maetake Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief II, 2021 Verdigris and Indigo on Abaca and Cotton
      Yasue Maetake
      Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief II, 2021
      Verdigris and Indigo on Abaca and Cotton
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    • Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief III
      Yasue Maetake, Printed Oxidation and Indigo Blue on Fiber Relief III
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    • Ryuji Taira, Two of us (Futari) (ed.6/15), 2014
      Ryuji Taira, Two of us (Futari) (ed.6/15), 2014
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    • Ryuji Taira Bound, 2014 Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
      Ryuji Taira
      Bound, 2014
      Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
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    • Ryuji Taira Tanpopo #2, 2004 Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
      Ryuji Taira
      Tanpopo #2, 2004
      Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
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    • Ryuji Taira Flowers & Seeds, 2004 Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
      Ryuji Taira
      Flowers & Seeds, 2004
      Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
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    • Ryuji Taira 200 Two Hundred, 2014 Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
      Ryuji Taira
      200 Two Hundred, 2014
      Platinum Palladium Print on Japanese Gampi Paper
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    • Kaori Teraoka, 「rhythm 4/3 - 4/6」, 2023
      Kaori Teraoka, 「rhythm 4/3 - 4/6」, 2023
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    • Kaori Teraoka, 「rhythm 3/24 - 4/3」, 2023
      Kaori Teraoka, 「rhythm 3/24 - 4/3」, 2023
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  • Press Release

                A thousand gestures and subtle details converge in Ryuji Taira’s (b. 1960, Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan) delicate photo prints on washi paper. Taira’s motifs—environmental microcosms—are brought to life by the nineteenth century style platinum printing technique imposed on gampi-washi. Taira translates dandelions and living creatures, using a large-format camera and silver halide film, into immortal images. Taira’s gampi-washi medium, which he prepares with lacquer over ten years, allows him to simultaneously preserve the natural essence of the symbolism and the transience of nature, defying decay.

                Classically trained in nihonga painting, Kaori Teraoka (b. 1995, Shizuoka, based in Tokyo, Japan)uses mashi hemp paper in a meditative and rhythmic technique. Like a performance, each brush stroke corresponds to one second. Her gestures become a way of grounding body with mind, made with intention and focus even in the face of an uncertain world. Teraoka’s practice illustrates the relationship between physical action and the flow of time.  

     

    About the Gallery

    Committed to creating shared craft- and Japanese culture-oriented experiences, Ippodo Gallery has worked directly with over 200 artists and held thousands of exhibitions over three decades. Keiko Aono founded Ippodo Gallery Tokyo in 1996, with two locations in the heart of Ginza and the residential area of Gotenyama. Daughter Shoko Aono opened Ippodo Gallery in New York in 2008, forging new connections with a global audience. Since then, she continues to witness the timeless cross-cultural impact of Japanese kogei art that transcends language.

    Press Release

    Panta Rhei: Everything Flows, Works by Five Artists on Japanese Washi Paper

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 27–May 17, 2023

    OPENING RECEPTION with Yasue Maetake and Mami Kato, April 27, 5:00–6:00pm

     

    NEW YORK, NY – Ippodo Gallery presents selected washi artworks by five Japanese artists working with traditional paper in diverse modes. Panta Rhei: Everything Flows unveils new perspectives in Japanese paper, transforming the medium into voluminous crafted planes. Washi is a medium in flux, intertwined with Japanese cultural memory and each artist’s sensibility.   

     

                Washi (fibers of gampi, mulberry kozo and mitsumata, andthe hemp mashi, among many others) is treasured for its longevity, as the extraordinarily long, thin fibers—which are both durable and flexible—are slow to degrade. Japan’s paper tradition has maintained a broad and profound influence on art, culture, life, and architecture for a millennium.These five artists, working with the flat material in both two- and three-dimensions, demonstrate the beauty and tenaciousness of Japanese paper as a form of artistic expression.

                KAKU (b. 1950, Tokyo, based in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan) is an established career artist and designer whose iconic installation work has expanded the boundaries of traditional Japanese mediums for five decades. A subliminal sense of a shared consciousness guides KAKU’s technique and symbolism. Each work uses shaped wire and tens of thousands of coiled washi pieces; together, they become a living environment. Each fragment draws the viewer deeper into the undulating surface until the washi is totally enveloping. The tranquility in the absence of self echoes a Zen sensibility.

                Mami Kato (Akita, Japan, based in Philadelphia) constructs her artistic vision from the washi material itself. Inspired by the structure of organisms submerged in water, such as cells and algae, Kato uses fine-tipped needles to dissect the patterns of the washi fibers, unraveling and reweaving each strand. Intrigued by biological science, Kato is immersed in the microscopic world, rearranging the material’s phenotypic expression to match her own imagination. Kato’s artistic philosophy aligns with Buddhist dharma: one life passes through her hands and is delivered into another.

                Yasue Maetake’s (b. 1973, Tokyo, based in Brooklyn, New York) latest bas-relief series investigates the effect of chemical reactions on washi. Maetake repurposes the industrial waste from her sculpture studio, creating Anthropogenic geographies from melded man-made materials. The reliefs become a naturalistic timeline, connecting the age-old washi medium with the products of the modern era. She embeds oxidized erosion, such as fermented plants, metal patina, and wood stains, between the bonds of the hand-made paper layers. The character of the material—an Animistic spirit—reveals itself, creating new chroma and life.

  • Events
  • Director's Letter

                Washi embodies the Japanese ‘naturalistic view of history’ (Yasue Maetake), becomes ‘words of nature’ (KAKU); it can transform into ‘protoplasmic organisms’ (Mami Kato), eternalize the ‘continuity of life’ (Ryuji Taira), and the ‘memory of one’s own physicality’ (Kaori Teraoka).

                Today, although record keeping and communication have become digitalized, paper will never be forgotten, as it is a medium connecting the spiritual and the material realms. Furthermore, as a link between nature and people, washi continues to tether our fickle spirits, the ever-changing scenery, and our unrestrained imaginations.

    Director's Letter

    PAPER FLOWS
    Shoko Aono
     Director, Ippodo Gallery New York
     

                All things exist in a state of change and transition. Like waters flowing in a river, nothing ever remains the same.

                Despite this reality, an urge to capture the fleeting moment is only natural. The invention of paper in China two thousand years ago replaced silk as the basis for writing and painting, making it easier than ever before to archive the passage of time. Introduced to Japan a millennia later, paper developed into what is now known as washi which UNESCO recognized as Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014. Fabricated from plant fibers that are mixed with pristine water to create a pulp, the strands compound atop wooden frames, forming a durable, yet malleable paper. Even today, this traditional method endures throughout the Japanese archipelago.

                While submerged underwater, the entangled fibers obtained from the bark of two mulberry species kōzo and mitsumata, the Japanese native gampi, or hemp coalesce into a soft sheet that is prime for not only painting, but also folding screens, paper doors, lighting fixtures, and even textiles. Semitransparent, washi diffuses a soft light, and though it is thin, the strong construction is nearly permanent. Still employedin every aspect of Japanese culture, the unbleached quality of washi unveils the bountiful richness and range of the color white.  

                Panta Rhei—Everything Flows is an exhibition that focuses on washi and highlights the works of five Japanese artists. Washi is pliable when wetted, which allows each artist to manipulate the paper freely before it dries and shrinks. The adaptability of washi invites paint and dye, as well as duplication, deposits, and distortion. The paper seizes hold of any pigment that is introduced, bleeding into its fabric and pervading its surface. This unique material possesses the capacity to change endlessly, suitable as base to print photographs, but also as medium to create soft, three-dimensional objects.

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