i GALLERY OSAKA is pleased to present “Aufheben,” a solo exhibition by Masakatsu Sashie.

In this exhibition “Aufheben,” Masakatsu Sashie dismantles signboards, shutters, and fragments of past cityscapes — visual languages engraved on urban surfaces that have outlived their original functions — and reconstructs them into spherical objects called “orbs”. These “floating cities” depicted using realistic brushstrokes vividly visualize the fluctuations of landscapes hidden below the surface in our memories while leaving behind chronological gaps and discordant sounds.

Furthermore, the title, “Aufheben,” means “sublation” in German, and refers to the concept of combining and sublimating contradictory elements into higher forms.

The character “takara” (treasure) that appears in the key visual for this exhibition, depicted in the style of a vintage neon sign, quietly resonates with the characters “mi” and “sono” on the sign of Misono Universe, which will bring an end to its 70-year history on July 5th. Although Sashie himself has not publicized his intentions, this visual reference fits perfectly with this exhibition’s theme of excavating “true fortune” — forgotten memories and remnants of neighborhoods — buried in corners of cities and reconstructing them as “floating cities,” overlapping splendidly with the theme of this exhibition. This visual, which will be displayed on the first day of the exhibition, will link Osaka’s past and present, quietly opening the door to a new intellectual dialogue.

We invite visitors to this exhibition to take their time carefully examining the intricate details of each orb floating on the canvas and experiencing moments when rusted signs and decaying structures rise up like fragments of memories. These “floating cities” encapsulate the time of Osaka, a “city of life” where the rumble of manufacturing and the lives of ordinary people intersect, evoking layers of memories from the postwar period of rapid growth to the present and calling on viewers to recall and engage in dialogue. We invite you to personally experience the multi-layered temblors of time and memory and enjoy the new urban experience demonstrated by Mr. Sashie to your heart’s content.