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Yutaka Kawai "Heavy Slices, Light Nights"
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Yutaka Kawai
Starting Saturday, March 28, 2026, Open Letter is pleased to present Heavy Slices, Light Nights, a solo exhibition by Yutaka Kawai. This marks Kawai’s second solo exhibition at the gallery, following Forgotten Times in 2022. Based in an old house in Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, Kawai is a painter whose practice is in a constant state of evolution. His work defies a single style, ranging from abstract paintings with overlapping organic forms and dense patterns to calligraphic lines and sculptural pieces made from wood scraps. Kawai often refers to himself as a “stray painter” (nora no gaka). This term suggests not only a distance from the institutional contexts of the art world but also captures his pure, unadulterated motivation for the act of painting itself.
Four years have passed since his last exhibition here. While he previously held exhibitions almost every month, he notes that his pace has recently become more settled. However, his daily practice remains unchanged—continuing to paint every day, sometimes adding strokes to past works or applying color to objects found on the roadside. His creative process is inextricably linked to the “outside” world. The frozen tap, the warmth of his cat Zane crawling into bed, the tediousness of tax returns. Thoughts on elections and the reality of never-ending wars. Kawai does not separate these elements; he continues to face them in his own way. He creates his own posters encouraging people to vote, writing on Instagram that he’ll “go to the polls, even if the election is a mess,” and adding, “Wishing for peace or a better world is naturally continuous with daily life, isn’t it?” While grappling with frustration toward the world and his own perceived awkwardness, he keeps moving his brush as if driven by something unseen. For Kawai, the warmth of a night with Zane and the anger toward wars in distant lands exist within the same single reality of daily life.
Kawai admits that he sometimes feels humble or even empty, but at his core, he is simply doing what he likes. He feels deeply grateful for those who visit his exhibitions and buy his paintings, and he intends to keep moving forward in his own quiet way. His words carry no excess sentimentality or self-consciousness—only a quiet certainty. The title of this exhibition, Heavy Slices, Light Nights, reflects Kawai’s sense of time. These are fragments of days filled with things that are heavy and sometimes painful. Yet, night always comes, and the dawn follows as a matter of course. In the midst of unpredictable days, these 2D and 3D works have accumulated as a very personal ritual for living. The exhibition will feature these pieces alongside new works delivered periodically from Mashiko during the show.
Kawai describes his work as “interesting paintings that provide a moderate sense of ‘strangeness’ to a room.” We invite you to come and experience that sense of strangeness for yourself.
“It doesn’t happen often, but a relatively large glob of paint came out of the tube and landed right on the hem of my chinos. Usually, I think of stains from daily life as part of my clothes, but maybe because these chinos were so clean, I rushed to take them off and wash them. Because I was in such a hurry, the paint spread to other spots. Starting from something like that, a loss of motivation or a kind of self-abandonment sets in. But well, I paint anyway. Maybe it’s the fact that my car is overdue for an oil change, or interactions with people I don’t quite click with, or the fact that I haven’t cleaned at all, or seeing Sanae Takaichi on social media—those things pull me in that direction. There’s no need to force it, but if I move my hands, something gets made, and I can’t really trust those fleeting emotions anyway. I just need to go get the oil change, but for some reason, I don’t want to face it. The sound of helicopters is constant and reminds me of the movie The Family Game. I’m eating chocolate like crazy, then I’m going to go buy strawberries.”
(From Yutaka Kawai’s Instagram post, January 27, 2026)
Four years have passed since his last exhibition here. While he previously held exhibitions almost every month, he notes that his pace has recently become more settled. However, his daily practice remains unchanged—continuing to paint every day, sometimes adding strokes to past works or applying color to objects found on the roadside. His creative process is inextricably linked to the “outside” world. The frozen tap, the warmth of his cat Zane crawling into bed, the tediousness of tax returns. Thoughts on elections and the reality of never-ending wars. Kawai does not separate these elements; he continues to face them in his own way. He creates his own posters encouraging people to vote, writing on Instagram that he’ll “go to the polls, even if the election is a mess,” and adding, “Wishing for peace or a better world is naturally continuous with daily life, isn’t it?” While grappling with frustration toward the world and his own perceived awkwardness, he keeps moving his brush as if driven by something unseen. For Kawai, the warmth of a night with Zane and the anger toward wars in distant lands exist within the same single reality of daily life.
Kawai admits that he sometimes feels humble or even empty, but at his core, he is simply doing what he likes. He feels deeply grateful for those who visit his exhibitions and buy his paintings, and he intends to keep moving forward in his own quiet way. His words carry no excess sentimentality or self-consciousness—only a quiet certainty. The title of this exhibition, Heavy Slices, Light Nights, reflects Kawai’s sense of time. These are fragments of days filled with things that are heavy and sometimes painful. Yet, night always comes, and the dawn follows as a matter of course. In the midst of unpredictable days, these 2D and 3D works have accumulated as a very personal ritual for living. The exhibition will feature these pieces alongside new works delivered periodically from Mashiko during the show.
Kawai describes his work as “interesting paintings that provide a moderate sense of ‘strangeness’ to a room.” We invite you to come and experience that sense of strangeness for yourself.
“It doesn’t happen often, but a relatively large glob of paint came out of the tube and landed right on the hem of my chinos. Usually, I think of stains from daily life as part of my clothes, but maybe because these chinos were so clean, I rushed to take them off and wash them. Because I was in such a hurry, the paint spread to other spots. Starting from something like that, a loss of motivation or a kind of self-abandonment sets in. But well, I paint anyway. Maybe it’s the fact that my car is overdue for an oil change, or interactions with people I don’t quite click with, or the fact that I haven’t cleaned at all, or seeing Sanae Takaichi on social media—those things pull me in that direction. There’s no need to force it, but if I move my hands, something gets made, and I can’t really trust those fleeting emotions anyway. I just need to go get the oil change, but for some reason, I don’t want to face it. The sound of helicopters is constant and reminds me of the movie The Family Game. I’m eating chocolate like crazy, then I’m going to go buy strawberries.”
(From Yutaka Kawai’s Instagram post, January 27, 2026)
Schedule | Mar 28 (Sat) 2026-Apr 25 (Sat) 2026 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Mar 28 (Sat) 2026 13:00 - 15:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Adults ¥500; High School Students and Under free. | ||||
| Website | https://openletter.jp/exhibitions/yutaka-kawai-26/#en | ||||
| Venue | Open Letter http://openletter.jp/ | ||||
| Location | 5-3-17 Shimotakaido, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-0073 | ||||
| Access | 8 minute walk from the North exit of Kamikitazawa Station on the Keio line. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it    |
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