THRESHOLDS closing reception

Thresholds presents three Japanese artists whose works give form to the subtle transitions and fluctuations that arise between sensation and existence. Each engages with the intangible distance between the self and the world, guiding us toward new ways of perceiving and entering the space “in between”.

Natsumi Goldfish explores the inner landscape through observation of the external world. Using windows, glass, water, and other transparent materials as recurring motifs, she captures the quiet separations embedded in everyday life.

Masatomo Ishikawa (Mabo) treats the natural patina that emerges on metal surfaces not as a sign of decay, but as a record of time inscribed into matter. Through this color and texture, Mabo reveals the cyclical relationship between human life and the natural world, transforming oxidation into a metaphor for dignity, memory, and the traces of living.

Hiroshi Tachibana examines the pre-verbal realm of bodily perception, the moment when sensation arises before consciousness or meaning takes hold. By rendering the invisible domain of tacit knowledge, Tachibana expands the field of contemporary painting and reconsiders how the unconscious might be represented in the present moment.

Despite their differences in material and method, the three artists share an aesthetic sensitivity rooted in the Japanese notion of yohaku—the beauty of emptiness, or the eloquence of the space between opposites. Their works honor the tension between stillness and movement, language and body, becoming and dissolution, and in doing so, reveal the quiet expansion that lies within the in-between.