Solo exhibition tracing the artist's path

FUJI GALLERY SHINJUKU, located on the basement floor of Hilton Tokyo in Nishi-Shinjuku, will host Seiko Matsushita's solo exhibition "Rebellion of Window Frame" from Saturday, December 21, 2024, to Friday, January 31, 2025. Following the earlier exhibition "Shackled to the Courtyard" held in February this year, this exhibition explores the artist's journey through installations and layered paraffin paper drawings.

「開かない翼」（Sealed Wings）
2024 年 パラフィン紙にオイルパステル、⽊炭 / oil pastel and charcoal on paraffin paper、330×480mm

Seiko Matsushita has expressed the struggles of women and societal oppression since the 1990s through diverse mediums, including installations, paintings, photography, and performances. While her early works featured heavy materials like iron and concrete to address structural issues, her recent creations use delicate materials such as feathers and paraffin paper, shifting focus to inner psychological themes. This evolution reflects her transition from societal critiques to exploring personal existential depths. The "window frame," central to this exhibition, symbolizes both the boundary and connection between inside and outside. By removing this frame and presenting layered paraffin paper drawings, the artist reveals a fragmented yet unified perspective, reflecting the layered complexities of contemporary society.

Artist Statemen

The exhibition program spans two parts, with "Rebellion of Window Frame" as the second. The first, "Shackled to the Courtyard," displayed unpublished drawings long hidden from view. Facing completed works was less an act of affection and more like the swing of time’s pendulum threatening with thorns. This led me to construct a metaphoric "courtyard" within myself, erecting walls that left no exit. Fortunately, a surplus emerged from this process, opening a door to connect the courtyard to the outside world. However, I was struck by an image of window frames disintegrating like Nietzsche's Horse, as if rebelling in my stead against the intolerable conditions of this world.

Is this despair, or a temptation toward something new?

If there is any allure of newness, it lies in the window’s gaze—a boundary-like entity that frames both the inside and outside. As I surrender to this temptation, I aim to trace landscapes that emerge as I navigate the past toward fruition.

Seiko Matsushita

「開かない翼」（Sealed Wings）
2024 年 パラフィン紙にオイルパステル、⽊炭 / oil pastel and charcoal on paraffin paper、330×480mm

“camp”2024 年
パラフィン紙にオイルパステル、⽊炭oil pastel & charcoal on paraffin paper　295×210mm

「さよならが⾔えないで」（Words Left Unspoken）（オブジェ）
2024 年
靴、油絵具、ストッキング、⽊、⽯塑粘⼟
shoe, oil painting, stocking, wood, stone clay
245×290×200（H）mm

「ひとりでいなさい」（Stay Alone）（レイヤードローイング）
2024 年
パラフィン紙にオイルパステル、⽊炭、油絵具
oil pastel, charcoal & oil paints on paraffin paper
330×480mm

Makiko Matsushita Profile

Born in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan. After graduating from Kyoritsu Women's University, studied metalwork. Recent major solo exhibitions include Binding in the Courtyard (Fuji Gallery Shinjuku, Tokyo) in 2024 and Falling Toys - Searching for Conscience (Tarouhei Gallery, Tokyo) in 2023.