Tokyo International Gallery Presents Group Exhibition 'Figround — Figure and Ground' by Rio Uchino, Yosei Ohno, and Kaede Nagasawa

Tokyo International Gallery (Shinagawa, Tennozu) will hold the group exhibition 'Figround — Figure and Ground' featuring Rio Uchino, Yosei Ohno, and Kaede Nagasawa from Saturday, May 23, to Saturday, June 27, 2026. When we visit galleries or museums and look at paintings or sculptures, the artwork in front of us appears as the 'figure,' while the walls, pedestals, and exhibition rooms seem like the 'ground.' If we focus on the relationship between representation and medium, the representation may look like the 'figure' and the medium like the 'ground.' When looking at a painting and considering the relationship between the material and the support, the material might appear as the 'figure' and the support as the 'ground.' Often, the 'figure' is considered the essential element, whereas the 'ground' is regarded merely as a background. But is the relationship between 'figure' and 'ground' truly self-evident? In the works of the three artists exhibited in this show, the relationship between 'figure' and 'ground' is intertwined in various ways, sometimes disrupted, and sometimes rendered ambiguous. Rio Uchino creates 'paintings' by weaving dried string-like oil paint and works composed of paper frames. In these pieces, the paint itself forms the image without a canvas, and paper—usually understood as the support in traditional painting—serves as the exhibition apparatus (the frame). The traditional roles of material, support, and exhibition device are dismantled. Yosei Ohno creates three-dimensional works inspired by religious artistic expressions. Rather than being monumental pieces installed in large cathedrals or churches, they evoke personal objects of prayer kept close to the owner, sometimes even carried. Here, the 'ground'—the place or environment where the object is placed—intrudes upon the selection of materials and the modeling. Kaede Nagasawa extracts motifs of flora and fauna from folk crafts and expresses them on canvas using oil paint and woodblock printing. In the tradition of Western art, the image painted on a canvas has always been considered the central element of expression. Images where the 'ground' is transferred from ceramics or textiles to canvas prompt a reconsideration of the boundary between 'decoration' and 'representation.' While consciously utilizing elements such as material, support, and exhibition device/space, this exhibition questions what makes an 'artwork' exist there—materially, spatially, and institutionally—when we appreciate art, through works that explore alternative ways of being. Rio Uchino, Yosei Ohno, Kaede Nagasawa **ARTIST PROFILE** Rio Uchino 2000 Born in Tokyo 2024 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting (Oil Painting) 2026 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Master's Program (6th Laboratory of Oil Painting) Born in Tokyo in 2000. Graduated from the 6th Laboratory of Oil Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2026. Major exhibitions include 'from the ROOM' (MJK Gallery, Tokyo, 2024) and 'Pithecanthropus - Project by The 6th Laboratory Oil-Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts -' (MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Tokyo, 2025). [Group Exhibitions] 2022 'Dinosaur, Box, Yellow and Sheet' (Gallery Dalston, Tokyo) 2024 'from the ROOM' (MJK Gallery, Tokyo) 2024 'Geidai Arts in Marunouchi 2024' (Marunouchi Building, Tokyo) 2025 'Pithecanthropus - Project by The 6th Laboratory Oil-Painting Department of Tokyo University of the Arts -' (MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Tokyo) 2025 'Kagirohi' (Oil Painting Gallery, 1st Floor, Painting Building, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo) 2024 Won the Mitsubishi Estate Award **ARTIST STATEMENT** The act of 'hanging a painting in the sky' is placed just outside two pictorial traditions regarding distance and height. It is closer to temporarily entrusting an image that has lost its support between the gaze and gravity, rather than painting it.