Signature Ginza 2024

Sometimes I feel like constant progress is erasing who I am. And I know I'm not alone. When technology upends our lives, at some point we need to turn around and reassess where we stand. I've always cherished Japanese aesthetics. I admire simplicity of expression, the ability to say so much from so little, and the power of life created by the balance between harmony and tension. My solo exhibition at Ginza Ippodo, "Signature Ginza 2024," was born from these thoughts.
In this series, he created works on paper consisting of colorless black and white ovals that represent the universal, severing the particular, in the form of blue and crimson ink lines.

Why "signature"?
I want to capture the distinctive patterns, objects, and characteristics that make people and things stand out. The individuality woven into each stroke in this series has been a constant in my work since I started oil painting at the age of 7. I love the expression of clean, flowing lines.
And the signature strokes, executed from left to right and with the same carefulness as an actual signature, are a delicate and distinctive way of not just protecting the importance of identity, but my very identity.
Besides the three innate identities we are born with - fingerprints, irises and DNA - our signature is the only acquired identity. Sadly, with the ubiquitous advancement of technology, this unique human identification is becoming less and less used.
Signature Ginza 2024 is a call to action to honor our history, traditions, and the importance of each individual signature.

Liz Sloane

From New York to Ginza

In March 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak began in New York, I received an email informing me of Liz's solo exhibition. At a time when the whole world was beginning to fear the virus, Liz's collages, with their clean indigo and white, felt like a refreshing tonic. They also looked like Japanese ink strokes, so I immediately contacted my daughter in NY to ask her to come to Liz's solo exhibition and I decided to buy three pieces.

Perhaps it's because of the times, but the world is full of noisy artists.
I was attracted to the colors, shapes, and space of Liz's work, and I immediately wanted to create this simple piece at Ginza Ippodo.
A year ago, Liz and her husband came to Ginza. She was a character in the film. It was decided.

The title is Signature Ginza.
She was fascinated by Japanese beauty. Simple, tense lines, like the name written in Signature brush... Such a piece came from New York.

Keiko Aono, Ippodo