EXHIBITIONS
Hikari Ono “Some Surfaces”
Dates: Nov 2 – Dec 7, 2025
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi
Opening reception: Sunday, Nov 2, 16:00 – 18:00
Taka Ishii Gallery Maebashi is pleased to present “Some Surfaces”, a solo exhibition of works by Hikari Ono, on view from Sunday, November 2 through Sunday, December 7. Ono’s first solo show at the gallery features approximately 15 new works from Object for Painting, a clay series she has been producing since 2016, together with around 10 new works from On a Still Surface, a monotype series she has been working on even longer.
Object for Painting is a series of three-dimensional works in which the artist shapes the surfaces of clay slabs. Marks left by actions such as rolling, peeling, and crushing evoke the tactile sensations of the force applied to them. While Ono has previously focused on freestanding works, this exhibition centers on wall-mounted pieces, broadening the scope of her practice. Through this shift, her occupation with flat surfaces has evolved into engagement with semi-sculptural reliefs that emerge as the forms curve and fold.
Ono reflects on the many kinds of surfaces that exist in the world, extending beyond the pictorial and sculptural. She shapes clay in reaction to its inherent texture and to chance events that occur as she kneads and observes its surface. The artist explains that this physical dialogue with the material reminds her that while all matter on Earth is in constant flux, continually reshaped by wind, water, the passage of time, and human activity, its total volume remains unchanged and simply circulates. She has also commented on her recognition that she too is part of this cycle.
On a Still Surface is a series of monotypes that Ono has been working on over the long term. As she considers the surfaces of the glass plates used in the process, the ink applied to them, and the paper onto which the images are transferred, here too the relationship between surface and movement of matter emerges as a central concern.
A remarkable range of phenomena observed on the surfaces of things are compellingly reflected in Ono’s work. We invite you to view these new works, which respond to the nature of the pictorial through her unique visual language.
Hikari Ono was born in 1990 in Lüneburg, Germany. She is currently based in Tokyo. She graduated from Tama Art University with BFA in Oil Painting in 2014.
Her major solo exhibitions include “disassemble”, Yonkai-Kanazawa (2024); ”Object For Painting No. 72-96”, ADZ (Lisbon, 2022) “Object For Painting”, XYZcollective (Tokyo, 2020). She has participated in group exhibitions such as ”ちょっとだけ~ Sculpture As Place”, The Green Gallery (Milwaukee, 2025); “On a very quiet morning, on the same piece of toast”, Adams and Ollman (Portland, 2025); “VOCA 2025”, The Ueno Royal Museum (Tokyo, 2025); “Chronicle (2.5) DIMENSIONS / culterim”, Backshop (Berlin, 2024); “leafmold paradise”, Union Pacific (London, 2024).
