向山喜章 / Kisho Mwkaiyama

Venue: (06)KURA HOUSE

About Works: [Curatorial Comment]

Mwkaiyama’s work carries within it the spirit of Japan’s mountain worship traditions—the “deep mountain prayers” associated with sites such as Mount Hiei, Mount Kōya, and Mount Ōmine. The glow of candles lit in a temple at dawn, the wind rising from the foothills, and the subtle radiance that seems to descend from above intersect delicately within the work, forming a realm dense with stillness and spiritual charge.
Having long explored wax as a signature material, Mukoyama has in recent years expanded his practice to include works on paper and canvas, where a finely tuned calibration of color defines his approach. Color, for him, is inseparable from light. It is a light that illuminates both space and inner perception, woven from a single point into a plane of palpable warmth. This structure—an accumulation of luminous strata—is central to his practice. Its layered expansion seems to accompany, almost in parallel, the quiet rhythms of those who once labored in textile production, forming a circular, prayer-like configuration that casts a gentle radiance across the foothills of Mount Fuji.
Installed within a storehouse that has endured for over seventy years, the four works resonate with one another, subtly transforming the atmosphere of the space. Surfaces that appear clothed in a wax-like skin, interwoven with a purified palette that holds a faint glow, give viewers the sensation of standing at the threshold of a mountain landscape. The works evoke memories embedded in the land through long spans of time. This deepened vocabulary of expression marks a new phase in Mukoyama’s artistic trajectory, and within this exhibition, his expanded sensibility takes form with a poised and concentrated presence.

［Artist Statment］

Among the mountains—Hiei, Kōya, Ōmine—lie prayers born of the deep mountain faith.
At dawn, candlelight flickers in the temple halls.
A crosswind blows from the mountain ridges,
and light descends from the heavens.
A single point becomes a ray of light;
threads of wind and radiance gradually weave into a warm, dense surface.
Prayers circle upward to the revered deity enshrined within the fabric,
gently illuminating the foothills of Fuji.
Amid the mountain greenery,
clad in robes of waxed cloth.

Artist Profile: coming soon

向山喜章 / Kisho Mwkaiyama
Born in 1968 in Osaka, currently lives and works in Tokyo. Mwkaiyama spent his childhood in Mount Koya, recognized as one of Japan’s most prominent locations of esoteric Buddhist temples, and as a child had found himself enticed by the tranquil environment of his surroundings and the Buddhist art that existed within it. This childhood experience had essentially lead Mwkaiyama to concern himself with the fundamental presence of light, a motif that he has consistently worked with since the beginning of his artistic career. His representative works using wax are a continuous attempt to both give appearance to and immobilize light. Mwkaiyama’s works have received high acclaim for the manner in which the various colors affixed through wax serve to visualize the invisible realm as well as the way they seemingly question the very concept of beauty. In recent years he has expanded his scope of expression, producing works using materials other than wax.