Introducing archived work from what feels like a past life in the series In A Crown— on display at Nicolai Burgmann’s Flagship Store in Omotesando (Days open to the public: 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.)

During these past three years, I moved from Japan to the UK and then to Brooklyn then back to Japan. My newfound lifestyle of moving from place to place has exposed me to an array of experiences and uncovered the transience of life. However, during this show I am revisiting a time where I hardly left my studio, only having my paintings to converse with. In A Crown is a collection that reflects on music and internal rhythm, the result of yearning to find a voice and follow quiet curiosities.

I have encountered incredible stories, and have been continuously gathering serendipitous anecdotes from these past three years of country-hopping: from unusual interactions with subway commuters to hilarious nights of strangers becoming friends outside jazz clubs. While I delight in my vagabond-lifestyle, I don’t want to dismiss the challenging aspects of moving to new cities, new countries. After months of sleeping on the floor, scary moments in my old New York neighborhood, and getting used to new cultures, I have found time and time again that difficulties contain their own beauty.

It has been about six months since I returned back home to Japan but am again anticipating packing things up for another temporary move. Through this on-going adventure I am continuously learning more about both the world and myself but one thing remains necessary: how important it is to create a consistent practice to exercise creativity daily. It’s not always easy, and with all the travel it is deliciously tempting to just be on autopilot.

How can you stay creatively motivated when you feel unrest? How can you keep moving when you don’t have the space, time, or energy to move? Time and time again we, as artists, are faced with questions like these and find ourselves lost with forgotten dreams placed on the back burner. It is not easy to rekindle life back into passions, but one line at a time I have attempted to fill my days with art.

It is refreshing to come back to these pieces because I created them during a time I was very much so in one place. It allowed me to take in music while painting the work, serendipitously allowing the paintings and songs to meet and inform the other. I knew a painting was complete when, just like tuning a guitar, the music I listened to and the painting created harmonized. It felt like I was introducing two dimensions together when the painting, song, and title were perfectly paired in my mind’s eye; a dramatic meeting of worlds which, at the time, felt nothing short of miraculous.

I’m grateful that you stumbled upon this space with me. Each one of these paintings represents a piece of music that has inspired me, and I hope they will do the same for you.