HENKYO is pleased to present ‘1984,’ a solo exhibition by the artist TIDE.The exhibition marks TIDE’ s first solo exhibition in Japan since 2021, as well as the inaugural exhibitionof HENKYO’ s new gallery space in Tokyo’ s Harajuku.

The exhibition itself will be separated into two halves to show the full range of TIDE’ s current artistic output. The first half of the exhibition ‘BLACK’ , and the second half ‘WHITE’ , will show large-scale canvas works that depict objects and motifs from everyday life with significant symbolic and personal meaning to TIDE, separated by their respective colors. Both exhibitions will also show a hundred framed watercolor paintings, a return to the small-scale and intimate works that were the origins of TIDE’ s artistic practice.

The canvas paintings in ‘1984’ depict enigmatic objects and motifs taken from the artist’ s everyday life.Removed from their original context and depicted in an almost photo-realistic style, each object and motifhas deeply personal significance; imbued with an almost totemic quality and symbolic meaning known onlyto him. Objects range from items of jewelry to children’ s toys, and cross-like forms, some of which areeasily recognisable, and others that intimate a narrative without making it explicit. Though at first glance,these works may seem like a radical departure for the artist, who up until now has primarily been knownfor his ‘CAT’ series which sees the titular character placed with in soft furnishings and domestic interiors.However, closer inspection of these previous artworks will reveal that some of the objects and motifs within these new works have previously appeared in his paintings, recurring in the background of compositions or sca ered here and there, like a trail of symbolic clues, the meaning of which is left for the viewer to deduce.

TIDE’ s works are underlined by memories from his past, the experiences of his day-to-day life and feelings of nostalgia, made manifest through the lens of a simultaneously two and three-dimensional monochrome world. The CAT character is both an embodiment of himself and his loved ones, but also serves as a conduit for various thoughts, emotions and memories. In recent years, the home-like se ing for CAT that helped establish this liminal world somewhere between a dream and reality, had begun to slowly slip away, becoming more abstract and dream-like. The walls and windows of these interiors disappeared to reveal a night sky, leaving just a cross-like window frame, creating the suggestion of a domestic space, allowing the themes of memory and nostalgia to be conveyed through the presence of the cat alone. These new works are therefore a distillation of these enduring concepts and a continuation of this gradual abstraction; culminating in a series of paintings that remove the subject ma er entirely from their original context to be suspended in isolation. This process of distillation is most evident in the ‘portrait’ paintings, which sees CAT, painted in three-dimensional form for the first time. The composition of the painting and the pose of CAT bring forth the realism and gravitas of 17th century portraiture, providing a layered and complex psychological insight into the cryptic character, as well as providing a tension between reality and fiction, perception and the self. Much like the CAT portraits works, which ask the viewer to project their own emotions onto the ambiguous expressions of CAT, the paintings that depict objects and motifs, intimate a narrative that the viewer is invited to dissect and define through their own associations, as well as the visual clues from previous TIDE artworks.

Up until now, TIDE has used an extremely limited color pale e of mostly black and white pigments, with a multitude of shades in between. These new works also reside within these parameters, with the exhibition divided into two halves; paintings grouped together between those on a black background or a white background respectively. However, closer examination of the works in the exhibition reveal the use of colors such as red and blue, that break away from the rigidity of his former monochromatic pale e, showing a shift in his painting style that focuses on depth of color and tone. Just as these new works reveal a directional shift in his style of painting, the exhibition juxtaposes these with a hundred small-scale watercolors of cat claws, marking a welcome return to the intricate and detailed pencil drawings which TIDE created at the start of his career. The image of a cat’ s claw is a recurring motif that TIDE often refers to in his works. Much like the objects in his paintings, the claw has taken on a greater meaning within his own philosophy. The claw itself can be seen as a depiction of a living creature, a part of a cat’ s anatomy that is a vital tool made of organic material that is constantly growing and regenerating, but then discarded as the new claw grows through. The claw is the material evidence of a living cat, but materially exists in a state of constant transition between life, death and regeneration; a physical representation of its presence whilst the cat itself is entirely absent. Each work in the exhibition is entirely unique and drawn from life, the fallen appendages of his own pet cats that he finds around his home and has collected as objects of curiosity and fascination.

*Please note the gallery will close at 17:00 on Friday 8th December 2023 and Friday 12th January 2024 in order to prepare for the opening parties.
*Please note that the address has been moved.