{"id":293698,"date":"2026-03-11T13:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=293698"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:33:42","slug":"fingerpainting-the-atmosphere-ayako-rokkaku-in-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/art\/fingerpainting-the-atmosphere-ayako-rokkaku-in-berlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Fingerpainting the Atmosphere: Ayako Rokkaku in Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fingerpainting the Atmosphere: Ayako Rokkaku in Berlin<\/h3>\r\n

I<\/span>nside the brutalist stillness of St. Agnes in Berlin, color explodes.
\r\nThe former church - now the monumental home of K\u00d6NIG GALERIE - hosts \u201cScenery in the <\/a><\/strong>Process of Being Formed<\/a>,\u201d<\/strong> the latest solo exhibition by Japanese artist Ayako Rokkaku, on view until 5 April 2026. The show unfolds across the cavernous nave like a sensory weather system: spontaneous, luminous, and slightly unruly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-1\"<\/a>

Ayako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026, Berlin,
\r\nNave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Rokkaku\u2019s practice has always thrived on immediacy. Known for applying acrylic paint directly with her fingers rather than brushes, she builds compositions through physical engagement by pressing, smearing, and layering pigment onto the surface until animated figures and dreamlike environments emerge. As the artist explains, \u201cI paint with my fingers because I want to feel the <\/strong>paint directly.\u201d<\/strong> The gesture is not merely technical; it is a way of collapsing the distance between body and image.<\/p>\r\n

In Berlin, however, the artist pushes her vocabulary further. Painting remains central, but the exhibition expands into a spatial landscape of sculptures in ceramic and glass, allowing the artist\u2019s instinctive gestures to migrate into three dimensions. The result is not a conventional
\r\nexhibition but an evolving environment, one that mirrors the show\u2019s title.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-11\"<\/a>

Ayako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026, Berlin,
\r\nNave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-10\"<\/a>

Ayako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026, Berlin,
\r\nNave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

\u201cScenery in the Process of Being Formed\u201d<\/strong> suggests an open-ended state, where images are not fixed but continuously becoming. Rokkaku\u2019s works feel less like finished objects and more like moments caught mid-transformation, as if the paintings were still moving. That sense of openness reflects the way the artist approaches her process.
\r\nRather than beginning with a predetermined composition, she works intuitively, allowing forms to emerge through movement and rhythm. As she notes, \u201cI don\u2019t start with a clear image. I follow my feelings and see what appears.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

At the core of Rokkaku\u2019s visual language are the wide-eyed, childlike characters that populate her canvases, floating figures that oscillate between innocence and uncanny intensity.
\r\nTheir faces, often rendered with minimal lines, drift through fields of vibrant color: pastel pinks, electric blues, and citrus yellows colliding in soft, tactile layers. The technique is deceptively simple. Without preparatory sketches, Rokkaku paints directly on raw surfaces, responding intuitively to the rhythm of the material. The process is closer to improvisation than to traditional
\r\ncomposition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-9\"<\/a>

Ayako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026, Berlin, Nave, Photo by
\r\nRoman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Yet the apparent spontaneity masks a deeper sensibility. Rokkaku\u2019s imagery is shaped by accumulated impressions, fleeting encounters with landscapes, cities, and everyday
\r\natmospheres.
\r\nLight hitting a harbor, the textures of a street market, the pulse of a coastline: these fragments quietly enter her memory before resurfacing as abstracted emotional terrains on canvas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-8\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026,
\r\nBerlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-7\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026,
\r\nBerlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

In Berlin, this method extends beyond painting. Ceramic works produced in Mallorca, glass sculptures developed in Murano with artisans from Berengo Studio, and canvases created in Porto converge within the nave, forming what could be described as a dispersed diary of movement.
\r\nEach material carries the trace of a place and a moment. Together they create a constellation of experiences translated into form.<\/p>\r\n

The glass pieces, in particular, introduce a striking shift in the artist\u2019s language.
\r\nWhile her paintings celebrate immediacy and touch, glass imposes resistance, requiring collaboration, patience, and technical precision. The translucent sculptures glow under the gallery\u2019s subdued light, capturing color within their surfaces as if freezing liquid pigment mid-motion. Their presence punctuates the exhibition like crystalline interruptions, offering a quieter counterpoint to the exuberant canvases.<\/p>\r\n

Equally compelling is the dialogue between Rokkaku\u2019s works and the architecture of St. Agnes itself. Designed as a postwar brutalist church, the building\u2019s austere concrete geometry might appear incompatible with the artist\u2019s playful imagery. Instead, the contrast amplifies both. The
\r\nnave\u2019s towering walls act as a neutral stage where color can vibrate with amplified intensity. Rokkaku\u2019s paintings, bursting with life, seem to soften the building\u2019s monumental severity, transforming the sacred space into something more fluid and atmospheric.<\/p>\r\n

At the center of Rokkaku\u2019s imagery are the wide-eyed figures that populate her canvases and sculptures. Their gaze, however, rarely meets that of the viewer. Instead, the eyes are almost always turned slightly to the side, drifting away from direct confrontation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-6\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED,
\r\n2026, Berlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-5\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED,
\r\n2026, Berlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

The effect is subtle but deliberate. Rather than establishing a frontal dialogue, the figures appear to observe the world around them, quietly attentive to their surroundings.
\r\nBy avoiding direct eye contact, Rokkaku\u2019s characters remain slightly elusive, suspended between presence and distance. They are not looking at us so much as looking with us, absorbing the atmosphere of the space they inhabit. In the vast nave of St. Agnes, this quality becomes
\r\nparticularly palpable: the figures seem less like portraits and more like quiet witnesses, attentive to the shifting scenery around them.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBeauty is made of layers,\u201d<\/strong> she notes, referring not only to the stratified surfaces of her paintings but also to the soft, stuffed sculptures that extend her visual language into space. Much like her canvases, these tactile forms are built through successive gestures\u2014layers of color,
\r\nmaterial, and emotion gradually shaping the final object.
\r\nThis layered approach also explains the curious detachment of the figures\u2019 gaze.<\/p>\r\n

This ambiguity is central to the artist\u2019s appeal. Rokkaku\u2019s work resists easy categorization, moving
\r\nfreely between pop aesthetics, neo-expressionist gesture, and the imaginative openness of children\u2019s drawings. Critics often highlight the playful dimension of her paintings, but beneath the surface lies a deeper psychological charge, an exploration of vulnerability, curiosity, and transformation.
\r\nSeen together, the works in \u201cScenery in the Process of Being Formed\u201d<\/strong> operate like fragments of an unfinished world. Nothing here feels static. Paintings seem to pulse with motion, sculptures appear to crystallize mid-growth, and the exhibition itself reads as a living ecosystem of color, texture, and emotion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-2\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026,
\r\nBerlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-4\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026,
\r\nBerlin, Nave, Photo by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

In an era increasingly dominated by conceptual distance and digital mediation, Rokkaku\u2019s approach feels refreshingly physical.
\r\nRather than presenting a polished conclusion, Rokkaku invites viewers into a state of becoming, an open terrain where images, materials, and sensations continue to evolve.<\/p>\r\n

For those passing through Berlin before early April, stepping into St. Agnes offers the rare chance to witness this process firsthand. Immersed in color, gesture, and atmosphere, \u201cScenery in the Process of Being Formed\u201d<\/strong> is less an exhibition to observe than an environment to experience, one that rewards the simple act of showing up and letting the scenery unfold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-3\"<\/a>

DidascaliaAyako Rokkaku, SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, 2026, Berlin, Nave,
\r\nPhoto by Roman M\u00e4rz, Courtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Exhibition Info<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Artist:<\/strong> Ayako Rokkaku
\r\nTitle:<\/strong> Scenery in the Process of Being Formed<\/a>
\r\nVenue:<\/strong> K\u00d6NIG GALERIE, St. Agnes (Nave), Berlin
\r\nDates:<\/strong> On view until 5 April 2026<\/p>\r\n

Image:<\/strong> Scenery in the Process of Being Formed, 2026
\r\nBerlin, Nave
\r\nPhoto by Roman M\u00e4rz
\r\nCourtesy of the artist & K\u00d6NIG GALERIE<\/p><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fingerpainting the Atmosphere: Ayako Rokkaku in Berlin nside the brutalist stillness of St. Agnes in Berlin, c […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":293692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Fingerpainting the Atmosphere: Ayako Rokkaku in Berlin #adf #npoadf #AyakoRokkaku #K\u00d6NIGGALERIE","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[55,83,94,97,121],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/adf-web-magazine-rokkaku-berlin-1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}