Mao Togami’s solo exhibition “Nachklang” will be held from July 15, 2026, at “Gallery Nikai,” the art space within Feel Records Kyoto Hanare.
Created by layering pastel colors to appear as if drifting across the canvas, her works portray a fantastical world that stimulates the viewer’s sensibility. Through these seemingly abstract paintings, what is she attempting to express and convey? Through this interview conducted on the occasion of her solo exhibition, we delve into the thoughts of artist Mao Togami.
What Shapes Artist Mao Togami
Please introduce yourself.
I am Mao Togami. I graduated from the Master’s Program in Oil Painting at Kyoto University of the Arts this spring, and I primarily create paintings.
What led you to start painting?
Since I was a child, I often visited museums and galleries under the influence of my mother, so it felt like a natural progression for me to start painting. As I studied painting more deeply in graduate school, I feel that I began to think not just about simply rendering something, but about “why I paint” and “what painting is.”
During my exam preparation and undergraduate years, I viewed painting as a means to reproduce the images inside my mind. However, I now approach creation as an act of confirming the relationship with my own body and time.
Could you tell us about the artists or works that have influenced you?
When I was young, I enjoyed viewing works by Monet, Kandinsky, Klee, Tetsumi Kudo, Kazuo Shiraga, and Sadamasa Matsunaga. Now, I feel I am additionally influenced by Kenjiro Okazaki, Ryan Gander, Christian Boltanski, Yves Klein, and Cy Twombly.
Rather than being conscious of specific works, it is more that I am influenced by the elements each artist addresses, such as “time,” “body,” “traces,” and “absence.”
“Repetition and Variation” ── A Musical Circulation Dwelling in Painting
What do you express in your works?
As a major current theme, I pose the question, “Is it possible to encapsulate time within a painting?”
This also connects to the works that have influenced me, but having practiced piano and classical ballet from an early age, along with my mother’s influence, I grew up with classical music closely around me. In particular, I believe I listened to J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations extensively. I am attempting to translate the cyclical element of this piece—”repetition and variation”—into painting.
How did you develop your current style?
I did not start out creating the way I do now. Instead, through the continuous process of painting, I noticed that I was unconsciously repeating the same movements and that I was focusing entirely on the very act of mixing colors.
I believe that by repeatedly observing that sensation, it developed into my current method of production.
The Accumulation of Traces and Shifts
Could you tell us about the concept of the solo exhibition at Gallery Nikai?
In this exhibition, while focusing on the repeated physical movements during production, the shifts that occur within them, and the very moment the hand stops, I will exhibit new works created under the theme, “Is it possible to encapsulate time within a painting?”
Through these works, I hope viewers will feel that time is not something that flows toward a single end point, but rather something that remains within the screen while continuing to circulate outward.
What kind of works will be exhibited in this solo exhibition?
I will exhibit paintings created based on the musical structure of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Rather than presenting a completed image, these are works in which time itself seems to be fixed through the traces of the act of painting and the accumulation of shifts that occur when mixing colors.
What is your motivation for working as an artist?
It is the ability to discover sensations and time that I myself was not aware of through creation.
I believe that creating a work is not about providing a clear answer, but about continuous questioning. That is why I want to keep creating.
What does expression mean to you?
For me, expression is an act of continuously confirming the relationship between myself and the world. I feel it is a kind of ritual, leaving my own time on the screen through my body.
And when it is opened up before others as a “work” that has captured that time, another new time is born. That is where I find the intrigue of expression.
Mao Togami Solo Exhibition “Nachklang”
Dates: July 15 (Wed) – July 29 (Wed), 2026
Hours: 10:00 – 18:00
*Closed on: Sundays (July 19, 26) and Mondays (July 20, 27)
Admission: Free
Mao Togami Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mooo.mao.ooom/