Susumu Takashima — The Evolution of the Line

Takashima’s drawings emerge from the intrinsic behaviour of tools and materials. A brush soaked in ink produces a line that begins thick and slowly fades; a freshly sharpened coloured pencil begins as a fine whisper and becomes thicker as it wears down; metalpoint yields a steady, tremulous mark.

Takashima describes his works as “crystals of lines”: compositions that arise not from representation but from the structural logic of the materials themselves. Chance sometimes guides his process (dice may determine dimensions or colour sequences) and many works unfold in recursive square-spiral formations, often leaving a small unmarked aperture at the center.

Takashima brings a refined and durational approach to drawing in which time itself becomes visible.

Hirotake Imanishi — The Evolution of Matter

Imanishi approaches clay as a dynamic, evolving substance. Cracked surfaces, metallic sheens, flowing glazes, and subtle cellular textures arise from internal forces within the clay and the unpredictable reactions of the kiln.

His works resemble microscopic landscapes; forms that appear to expand, split, or pulse with quiet energy. Depending on the viewing angle, each piece reveals multiple expressions, reflecting his central inquiry: the evolution of matter.

Through his sculptures, matter behaves as if alive, shaped by heat, pressure, and time into forms that echo the biological rhythms he once observed under the microscope.

Together, Takashima and Imanishi present two parallel visions of transformation. One traces the evolution of the line; the other traces the evolution of matter.

Takashima’s works accumulate gestures into crystalline fields of time, while Imanishi’s ceramics capture the slow unfolding of material vitality. Their practices meet in a shared reverence for processes that cannot be seen directly; gestural, biological, geological, or chemical forces that shape form from within.