“Handle with Care”, aims to address the balance between art and existence with a duo show featuring Marie Higashi’s expressive paintings alongside Kenji Gomi’s ancestrally inspired ceramic sculptures.

Marie Higashi was born in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture. She began her professional life as a nurse before turning to painting during a period of personal distress and crisis. To turn things around, Marie instinctively started to paint, marking the beginning of her artistic journey. She discovered in painting a powerful medium to express the fine line between life and death she used to witness in surgery rooms.

Marie’s works reflect her time spent in the medical world, exploring the profound realities of human existence, such as its resilience and ephemeral nature. The transition from being a caregiver to becoming an artist underscores Marie’s ongoing quest to understand and articulate the emotional experiences of life and healing. Her artworks, vibrant and emotionally charged, deep dive into the nuances of human vulnerability and resilience.

Both artists draw on personal histories and cultural legacies to explore themes of fragility and permanence in their respective and distinctive ways: the fragility of life and the permanence of art.

Kenji Gomi comes from Chino, a city famous for its rich pottery history. His work, based on traditional methods, explores the intrinsic qualities of natural materials.

Inspired by the Jomon period, famous for its cord-marked pottery, Kenji’s sculptures represent a cultural heritage and are derived from artistic skills of ancestorial Japanese ceramic artists. 

Kenji’s perseverance in practicing ceramic art eventually directed him to master "Tsuboya-yaki," an ancient Okinawan ceramic technique. Rejecting the use of artificial glazes, he allows the natural oxides in the clay to interact with the fire, resulting in sculptures that resonate with the colours of the earth, including blacks, greys, whites, and earthy tones. His technique respects the rawness of the material and emphasizes the everlasting essence of ceramics, aiming to surpass time and space. Besides, his sculptures, through their mysterious textures and organic shapes, evoke a sense of calm and timeless beauty.

“Handle with Care” exhibition offers a dialogue between the ephemeral and the eternal, reminding viewers that life itself, much like the artworks, should be treated with care and respect. It emphasizes the sensitivity and attention required not only in handling art, but also in navigating life's complexities and fragilities.