AI YOSHIDA
Floating
In Floating, Ai Yoshida brings works that have been formed within natural environments into the interior space of the city.
These works—shaped by wind, light, and the passage of time—have historically existed in relation to uncontrollable external forces.
Here, however, they are placed within a concrete space, sealed off from the outside world.
This shift is not merely environmental.
It fundamentally reconfigures the conditions under which the work exists.
Yoshida’s central piece, Brass Sea, unfolds as an expansive, membrane-like surface composed of thousands of delicate brass leaf fragments.
Functioning as a device that renders light and air perceptible, the work has previously manifested as an event—an experience that engages the viewer’s bodily awareness within natural surroundings.
What, then, emerges when this fluctuation is placed within a controlled environment?
Rather than the presence of wind itself, what comes into focus is a residual sense of movement—an atmospheric trace that arises precisely through its absence.
Subtle currents of air, the shifting position of the viewer, and the act of looking itself introduce minute variations, generating a new temporality within the space.
Grounded in the tradition of Nihonga yet extending beyond its conventional materials and supports, Yoshida’s practice reconsiders the act of seeing.
Her works do not simply present images; rather, they transform the surrounding environment into a site of perception.
In this exhibition, the viewer is not invited to witness a representation of nature.
Instead, one encounters the persistence of fluctuation—an instability that continues to drift within a controlled space.
What remains, even here, is something that refuses to settle.
DATES
APRIL 10 - 27, 2026
*WED-MON
OPENING RECEPTION
APRIL 10 (FRI), 5-8PM
LOCATION
i GALLERY OSAKA
1F, 3-8-14, MINAMISENBA,
CHUO-KU, OSAKA-SHI,
OSAKA
ARTIST
AI YOSHIDA
"Sea of Brass," a thin film-like work consisting of 2,800 sheets of brass foil, has traveled to various places, including the mountains of Kyoto, the sea of Kanagawa, under a large fallen cherry tree, and on the roof of an apartment building in Asakusa, Tokyo, and has drifted in the light and wind of those places.
When blown by the wind and filled with air, it feels like the back of a giant creature or the surface of the water as it moves.
The impetus for this work came from a child-like dream of creating a contrasting golden sea in a forest where the sun shines through the trees.
In fact, when installed outdoors, the ever-changing sunlight, shadows of trees falling on the golden surface, green leaves, and bright red camellias changed their expressions with time, as if Rimpa's work had become a real object.
And the kite created with butterfly wings, which will be exhibited this time.
The pieces of feathers used in this work, which were collected 4 to 50 years ago, are still beautiful and have not faded at all in 2026. In order to make these feathers fly in the sky once again, I re-created them in the form of a kite.
The "joy, excitement, and fear of life and death" that I realized in nature became my energy and driving force for creation, and I have been working with various techniques of expression based on Japanese painting techniques.
Please experience what kind of shimmering sensations you can feel from these works that were floating in nature in i GALLERY OSAKA, surrounded by concrete walls."
-Ai Yoshida
AI YOSHIDA
A creator who employs various expressions based on Japanese-style painting.
Leader of the Kaze Collective, a group that plays with the wind.
2007 B.F.A.,in Japanese painting of Tokyo University of the Arts
2009 M.F.A.,in Japanese painting of Tokyo University of the Arts
2019 Award nominee at the 37th Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition
2021 Winning prize at the 9th FACE exhibition
Solo Exhibitions
2026 “The Far Side of Silence” es quart / Senzoku
2022 “Sense of Time” Gallery Iriya / Iriya
2021 “being immersed in a forest” Gallery Nenohoshi / Daikanyama
2017 “When Following That Childʼs Back, Yet Unseen” Musee F / Aoyama
2014 “Natural Records” MAXIVIN / Roppongi
“Ashes, Peaches, Bonds” Gallery Omotesando / Aoyama
“Natural Records” Lʼespace A / Denenchofu
2011 “Flickering, Lightly: Yoshida Ai Exhibition” Jo / Akasaka
2010 “Flower: Yoshida Ai Exhibition” RA.KU.RA / Nakameguro
2009 “Flowers” Coccinella/ Nakameguro
“Yoshida Ai Exhibition,” Exhibit Live & Moris Gallery / Ginza
2008 “Flowers” MAXIVIN/ Roppongi
2007 “-You- Yoshida Ai Exhibition” Musee F / Aoyama
Group Exhibitions
2025 “Enoshima Art Festival 2005” Enoshima Samuel Cocking Garden /Fujisawa
“Hijiori Lantern 2025” Hijiori Onsen / Yamagata
“Merry Christmas Log Road” Log Road Daikanyama / Shibuya
2024 “Forest Exhibition Room 2024” Wachi-Sanyasounomori/ Kyotamba
“Final Exhibition: Those Who Play, Those Who Are Wild” Gallery Pictor / Kamakura 2023 “Forest Exhibition Room
2023 ” Wachi-Sanyasounomori/ Kyotamba
“Opening Exhibition: Those Who Play, Those Who Are Wil” Gallery Pictor / Kamakura
“Furuyama and Yoshida Ai Duo Exhibition: Those Who Play, Those Who Are Wild” Gallery Pictor /Kamakura
“Tracing the Roots: Travel and Handwork” Hillside Forum / Daikanyama
2022 “Slope and Wind” Katsuya Susuki Gallery / Toritsudaigaku
“Forest Exhibition Room 2022” Wachi-Sanyasounomori/ Kyotamba
Instagram: @yoshida_ai
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