Whitestone Ginza New Gallery will host "Dimensions IV - art is," featuring emerging artists.

For this exhibition, we interviewed the three participating artists to delve into their inner worlds. We asked about their approach to art, their relationship with their chosen mediums, and the origins of their creativity. We hope you can sense the depth of their work from their unique perspectives.

- Please tell us about the theme of your work for this exhibition and your main visual piece.

Ando: For this exhibition, I've created paintings based on my original novel "Togenkan" (Phantom Light Hall). It's a story about an amnesiac girl who gradually remembers her identity while playing "someone" in an old theater. In our daily lives, we all play various versions of "ourselves" within the context of others' expectations and relationships. My work expresses, through both paintings and text, the perspective that the act of performing itself creates identity.

The main visual was inspired by fairies quietly existing in the theater. They are certainly there, even if no one discovers them. I've imbued it with a gaze toward these nameless beings.

Novel: Togenkan(Phantom Light Hall)

- What do you consider your strength as an artist?

Ando: I've consistently engaged with and experimented with giving visible form to the unnamed emotions and ambiguous feelings within me. My strength lies in offering the perspective through my work that it's okay to exist even when one is ambiguous or unnamed.

Shizuka Ando “From Now On I Am IV” 2025, 41.0cm×31.8cm, Kochi hemp paper, ink, sumi-kan, mineral pigments, Tengujo paper

- What was the origin of your creative work, or an event that triggered it?

Ando: I believe my origins lie in my birth and upbringing. I was raised by a Japanese mother and a Chinese-American father. In any community, I always had elements that made me an outsider, and I was viewed as such. However, that experience led to my ability to simultaneously hold multiple perspectives, which I think nurtured the "observer's viewpoint" that runs through my current work.

- How did you arrive at your current form of expression, and what is your commitment to your medium?

Ando: Initially, my interest in dreams and the unconscious drew me to Surrealism. While trying to express that world in my own way, I encountered Japanese painting materials. Materials like Iwa-enogu (mineral pigments) and Tengujoshi paper have a strong presence of their own, creating both roughness and delicacy depending on how they're handled. That instability was perfect for the human figures I wanted to depict. Now I feel these materials are part of my work's worldview, almost like co-performers.

- The blurred faces and overall negative space seem to enhance the viewer's imagination. What are you thinking about during creation?

Ando: I blur faces because I want to express "someone who certainly exists, though we don't know who," rather than depicting a specific person. I wanted to leave room for the viewer's emotions and memories to overlap with the work.

Also, I sense something like silence or interval in the empty spaces, and I've been influenced by the spatial arrangement in classical Japanese paintings.

Shizuka Ando “Shine On Me” 2025, 60.6cm×50.0cm, Kochi hemp paper, ink, sumi-e, mineral pigments, Tengujo paper

- Are there any people or works that have influenced you?

Ando: Many works have influenced me, but films have had a particularly strong impact. For example, fragments of films I watched long ago like "Dreams," "Death in the Country," and "The Spirit of the Beehive" still remain within me. I was drawn to their expressions where reality and illusion merge. Behind every event or person lie more complex, ineffable emotions. I wanted to depict in my paintings such invisible aspects and their presence.

- Please share your future prospects or dreams.

Ando: Painting will continue to be my foundation. Eventually, I'd like to expand beyond the frame of painting to expressions that utilize stories and entire spaces.

For instance, I'd like to create experiences where viewers can immerse themselves in a world, such as by working on picture books, stage productions, or video works. I aim to present more three-dimensional worldviews. My current dream is to evolve from a "painter" to an "expressive artist."

Shizuka Ando “Breathing Together III” 2025, 60.6cm×50.0cm, Kochi hemp paper, ink, sumi-e, mineral pigments, Tengujo paper

Shizuka Ando continues to quietly listen to nameless emotions and ambiguous presences, depicting them and revealing their existence from obscurity. Perhaps each viewer will find their own memories overlapping with the experience.

Dimensions IV - art is