HENKYO is pleased to announce the solo exhibition “Navagraha” by Akitsuna Komori, opening Saturday, September 26, 2026.

Marking Komori’s first solo exhibition in two years, the exhibition presents approximately 15 new works, including oil paintings and frescoes featuring some of the artist’s recurring motifs, such as “black garments” and “rain.”

An opening reception will be held on Friday, September 25, from 7:00 PM.

We warmly invite you to join us and experience the exhibition.

Statement

Since ancient times, people have sought to find an order in the movements of celestial bodies.

The movements of the sun, moon, and planets were understood not simply as natural phenomena, but as manifestations of cosmic laws connected to human destiny, the rise and fall of nations, and the cyclical nature of the seasons. In ancient Indian astronomy, the Navagraha was one such attempt to decipher this cosmic order.

Today, we live amid vast flows of information and algorithms. Much of the information we encounter every day is filtered through complex calculations and statistical processes, quietly guiding countless judgments and choices. It permeates our everyday lives, shaping not only what we see, but also the way we perceive the world itself.

Much of this influence remains invisible. Yet it undeniably affects our actions and values, our relationships, and even the way society is structured.

In the Navagraha, Rahu and Ketu were regarded as shadow planets without physical form, yet were believed to bring about solar and lunar eclipses. In a similar way, contemporary society is shaped by countless forces that have no tangible form. At times connecting people, and at times dividing them, these invisible forces define the contours of the society in which we live.

This exhibition approaches the Navagraha not simply as an ancient system of belief, but as a model through which to reflect on the relationship between human beings and the world.

Just as people once sought to read the laws of the world through the movements of the stars, we too understand, act, and live through forces that remain largely invisible to us.

By bringing the Navagraha into dialogue with contemporary society, this exhibition seeks to trace the contours of universal structures embedded within an ever-changing world.

We received a review of Akitsuna Komori’s solo exhibition from artist Hiroshi Senju.

In Response to Akitsuna Komori’s Solo Exhibition
Hiroshi Senju / Painter, Member of the Japan Art Academy

The color black exists with a profound presence throughout Akitsuna Komori’s works. It is so absolute that it seems almost to delicately disrupt the balance of the picture plane. When I encountered it, I was reminded of dark matter, the theoretical hypothesis proposed by contemporary astronomy. Invisible to optical observation, it is a total darkness that absorbs all colors, yet possesses mass. I was struck by a sense of awe—and even terror—at the thought that Komori was painting precisely this.

Light is bent by dark matter, causing everything to appear distorted. This phenomenon is known as gravitational lensing. The world that comes into Komori’s view through such a distortion of sight seems to seek to make the invisible visible. It is as though religious painting had been attempting to depict such a phenomenon since long ago.

At times, this darkness manifests itself as clothing. At other times, it comes to dominate the daytime sky, replacing the blue sky we expect to see. His works seem to speak to us constantly and unconsciously of the fact that we are enveloped by these forces.

If what Komori depicts in his works can be understood as the culmination of cosmic dynamism, another image also came to mind as I encountered his paintings: Mahāvairocana in Indian Buddhism. Kūkai, the founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan, introduced this figure to Japan as Dainichi Nyorai. Invisible yet permeating and shaping everything in this world, it represents a fundamental cosmic truth. It could be described as the ultimate form of spiritual dynamism. Komori’s world, which appears almost like a vision recreated within the weightless expanse of outer space, evokes a crossover between the very forefront of contemporary astronomy and the fundamental concepts of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, whose origins can be traced back to the seventh century.

The possibilities of figurative painting are infinite. Komori has begun to pursue those possibilities with determination. I am deeply impressed by the emergence of this remarkable talent. I hope that he will continue to delve deeper and develop his ability to express the contemporary art scene on the world stage.