Marie Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Toshiya Kobayashi.

Toshiya Kobayashi reveals to us visible and invisible things that actually exist in life as vegetation. This vegetation normally thrives on sunlight and water without eating other things. Besides this, because it cannot move by itself it entrusts its life to the wind and other living things. In time, fresh green leaves will wither, and brightly colored flowers will fade and scatter. While spending his life-time with leaves and flowers, Kobayashi often wonders what they would want, dream, or abandon If they had minds.

In the early days of his career, Kobayashi expressed the inner workings of his mind using oil paints and black color. In general the color black conveys negative images like darkness, nothingness and sorrow rather than positive images. Moreover, only the color black remains when it is painted over all other colors. Black seems to wipe out everything.This means, on the other hand, that the color black includes all colors. Images like the dark and nothingness have another aspect. Invisible things could be present in the dark. The start of new things might be expected to happen in an empty place.

The theme of this exhibition is Magnolias and they have been composed in black and white colors. Aside from the white of snow, the color white has a very special meaning for Kobayashi, who hails from Hokkaido, and especially the white of magnolias moves him. While magnolias must wait patiently to bloom, flowers this beautiful have short lives. We have no idea whether magnolias experience melancholy because of the transience of life or if they pray for a future life. Still, Kobayashi says the form of the magnolia's bud reminds him of a human's hands joined in prayer. If magnolias do dream and wish for something, Kobayashi tries to grant their requests by drawing and making the invisible existence felt.


For further information please check the artist's official website
and contact the gallery at
info@mariegallery.com