Today Waiting for That Day and Tomorrow

Sat, 8 SeptemberSat, 29 September, 2018

ShugoArts Roppongi

I am waiting.
The event happened that day, the moment coming down suddenly from nowhere.
I was certainly there. I smelled it and heard the sound.
There was the flavor too. I felt, met, and the memories were born.

I am waiting.
I am imagining tomorrow, thinking of these things and those things, waiting for a glimpse of tomorrow that I forget soon, pops like a bubble and comes right back again.
Even though it would not be like that, the unknown memory inside my imagination that appears every day.

I am waiting.
Waiting with my paint brush in hand.
Waiting for all the memories of the past and future to come down and be born.
Looking at the accumulating paintings
Just like I remember the memory I almost forgot
I really was waiting for today.
Just wanted to feel the present moment I live with my memory even just for a bit.
The present moment that is between the past and future is the shortest yet strongest.
The past and future are also my today.
I memorize the present I grabbed, trying not to let it go away.

Aki KONDO, August 2018

About Exhibition

In the summer of 2018 during the middle of the unceasing blazing heat, we have received a cardboard box from Aki Kondo which was full of her works on paper. As we unwrapped the thin paper off of the artworks, we realized they were full of the various sadness and happiness that she had gone through over the past half year and also her hope toward the future.

ShugoArts has made a spontaneous decision to hold this exhibition to praise the foundation of the artist Aki Kondo who never loses her love for the world, indomitable courage toward reality and determination to move forward.

How many artists can assert that their ways of painting are their ways of life? Kondo always held her paintbrush and stood up in her own way when she witnessed the many tragedies of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, as well as when she came to Tokyo and struggled to achieve her ideal way of being an artist while dealing with loneliness, and when she lost her important things. By acquiring new expressions that we cannot think of she overcame her difficulties. We are pleased to present this exhibition for those who have met Aki Kondo and will meet her through her works.

Aki Kondo got married in February, 2018 and conceived her child in Shodoshima. Two weeks later, her beloved husband Yuki Inoue passed away unexpectedly in South India. She went back to her hometown Sapporo to prepare for her baby’s arrival, and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy in late August.

Aki KONDO, Mother’s Face, 2018, acrylic on paper, 38x27cm

Aki KONDO, Promise of Twins, 2018, acrylic on paper, 27x38cm

Aki KONDO, Decorate, 2018, acrylic on paper, 38x27cm

Aki KONDO, Lake of Memories, 2018, acrylic on paper, 38x27cm

Aki KONDO, The Seto Inland Sea, 2018, acrylic on paper, 38x27cm

Aki KONDO, Child of the Forest, 2018, acrylic on paper, 54x38cm

Aki KONDO, Indian Fruit, 2018, acrylic on paper, 27x38cm

Aki KONDO, Flute That Calls You, 2018, acrylic on paper, 27x38cm

Information

Aki KONDO "Today Waiting for That Day and Tomorrow"

Dates

Sat., September 8 – Sat., September 29, 2018

Venue

ShugoArts

Hours

11am ‒ 7pm, Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays

Press release

Contact

Aki KONDO

View Detail

Born in 1987 in Hokkaido and currently residing in Yamagata, Japan. Aki Kondo continues to depict hope and compassion for all forms of life through bold colors and dynamic brushstrokes. For Kondo, who believes that “to paint is to live,” the act of creation is both a process of envisioning the world she wishes to see and a means of self-recognition through painting. Her artistic expression extends beyond canvases and panels, freely expanding into three-dimensional objects, walls, ceilings, and entire spaces. Additionally, Kondo has demonstrated her talent in various artistic endeavors, including writing, directing, and producing the short film HIKARI, which seamlessly blends approximately 14,000 oil-painted animation frames with live-action footage.

Selected exhibitions: Aki Kondo: What I Saw, When I Tore Myself Open, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, 2025; I Wanted to See You, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2023; Aichi Triennale 2022, Aichi, 2022; Stars, Sparkling, Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata, 2021; The Happiness that Exists Here, ShugoArts/ Phillips Tokyo/ Contemporary Art Foundation, Tokyo, 2021; Takamatsu Art Museum Collection + Body and Movement, Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 2020; Flowers in the Heart, ShugoArts Online Show, Tokyo, 2020; Today Waiting for That Day and Tomorrow, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2018; Paintings Here And Now, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo, 2018; HIKARI, Daiwa Foundation Japan House, London, 2016; HIKARI, ShugoArts, Tokyo, 2015; THE ECOLOGY OF AKI KONDO, JIKKA, Tokyo, 2013; PHANTOMS OF ASIA: Contemporary Awakens the Past, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 2012. VOCA 2022 Honorable Mention Award, 2022.