LURF GALLERY is pleased to present "Breathing Paintings - Intersections and Whirlpools," a two-person exhibition by Maeda Nobuaki and Tanizaki Isshin, who, while taking different approaches, have both confronted the fundamental workings of painting.

Maeda Nobuaki has been actively exhibiting his work both in Japan and abroad. Most recently, his work exhibited at "Colors - Uncovering the Secrets of Color, From Impressionism to Contemporary Art," held at the Pola Museum of Art from December 2024 to May 2025, attracted attention for its overwhelming power and persuasiveness, among the works of various international artists from the modern to contemporary eras.
He dilutes water-based acrylic paint to the extreme, layering thin layers of paint multiple times based on horizontal and vertical compositions. This technique creates unique paintings that possess the layering of time and depth. This exhibition will feature works including three that were exhibited in the previous exhibition.

Meanwhile, Tanizaki Isshin is also expanding his scope of activity, including holding a solo exhibition overseas in 2024 and participating in group shows with other international artists in Japan.
Using oil paints, he creates swirls that combine colors and textures with his own unique techniques to express the energy of life. This time, he will be exhibiting works including a large-scale series of seven works that were conceived to respond to Maeda's work.

This exhibition was conceived from the two artists' desire to engage in a dialogue through their own work, and the resonance between their ideas and their passion for painting led to the project coming to fruition. The dialogue and harmony between Maeda and Tanizaki's thoughts and works will open up as an art space that draws the viewer in. The exhibition will run from Saturday, August 2nd to Monday, September 1st, 2025.

Exhibition overview

Breathing Paintings - Intersections and Whirlpools: Maeda Nobuaki x Tanizaki Isshin

Dates｜Saturday, August 2, 2025 to Monday, September 1, 2025
Venue: LURF GALLERY 1F & 2F
Time｜11:00 - 19:00
Address: Roob1, 28-13 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0033
Admission | Free

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The following is a contribution by art historian and art critic Akira Suga for this exhibition.

Breathing Paintings
Cross / Vortex: Nobuaki Maeda x Isshin Tanizaki

Paintings convey more than what is depicted. The feel of the material, the friction with the support, the breathing of the layered paint. Within their materiality, paintings harbor something that could be called "presence," "space," or even "depth without depth," leading the viewer inside.
This exhibition introduces two artists, Maeda Nobuaki and Tanizaki Isshin, who have taken different approaches to exploring the very essence of painting. Maeda uses water-based acrylic paint, layering thin layers of paint repeatedly based on horizontal and vertical structures, to present layers of color as an accumulation of time. There is a stillness that resonates with the viewer's breathing, and a sense of infinitely open space. Tanizaki, on the other hand, creates his paintings with an improvisational physicality, using the thickness of oil paint and swirling brushstrokes to apply the next layer before the paint has even dried, mixing and blending. It is as if he is saying that painting is not born from thought, but from breathing and vortexes.
The two works contrast with each other, yet strangely resonate with each other. In Maeda's paintings, "gravity = vertical line" and "the expanse of the world = horizontal line" symbolize a "cross" on a cosmic scale. Meanwhile, Tanizaki's brushstrokes emerge as a "vortex" that envelops the very process of creation. If the former accumulates inner silence through transparent layers, the latter opens up a critical point of vision through the improvisational flow of paint.
Both artists are far removed from the reproducibility and narrative nature of painting, and also distance themselves from the torrent of consumer visuals presented by New Painting and Simulationism from the 1980s onwards. Rather, in their betting on the relationship between material and the body, the generation of time on the screen, and the fundamental experience of looking, these two artists can be said to be quietly pioneering the contemporary possibilities of "difficult painting."
The title of this exhibition, "Breathing Painting," focuses on this fundamental act of painting. Paintings are not simply something to be "seen" visually, but exist as "a place that breathes" between the body and space. This temporal depth and spatial openness are the deepest common ground shared by Maeda and Tanizaki's works. The subtitle, "Cross / Vortex," also points to the differences in the structural and physical movements that appear in their paintings, as well as the encounter between them.
The works on display here are not single, completed images, but rather open to the breath of paintings that are "in the making." As they float quietly through the space, they intertwine with the breath of the viewer, swirling and leading them deep within.

(Akira Suga | Art historian and art critic)

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Installation Views

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Artworks

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Talk session announcement

To commemorate this exhibition, we will be hosting a talk session with the two exhibiting artists, featuring art historian and art critic Akira Suga and Pola Museum of Art's Chief Curator Hiroyuki Uchiro.

Talk Session <br>Participants: Akira Suga (art historian and art critic), Hiroyuki Uchiro (chief curator, Pola Museum of Art), Nobuaki Maeda, Isshin Tanizaki Date and Time: Saturday, August 2, 2025, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Venue | LURF GALLERY 2F
Address: Roob1, 28-13 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0033
Admission | Free

*Please note that there will be limited seating on the day, so you may be asked to stand.
*Depending on the level of congestion, admission may be temporarily restricted.

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