Tokyo, Japan – waitingroom is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Yuichi HIRAKO, “Grafted Tree”, through June 20th, Sat. to July 26th, Sun. 2015. For the past years, HIRAKO has been creating his work in the theme of coexistence between human and nature as well as the questions to their relationship. In the past, he was interested in the situation where nature and human are coexisting together. Recently, he is more interested in the reason why human is attempting to coexist with it and how we can do it. The tone of color used to be very dark in his painting when he was feeling unpleasant sensation about the situation between them, however, it has been recently changing and he started using brighter colors. It is a new ground for HIRAKO to challenge a new technique rather than keeping the way he can control very well. Challenging something he can not control fully is similar to the relationship between human and nature that can not be totally controlled. He adds that it is also similar to the relationship between art and artist where artist keeps challenging to the uncontrollable situation for good.

Yuichi HIRAKO is born in Okayama in 1982, currently living and working in Tokyo. He graduated from Wimbledon College of Art (England), Fine Art, Painting Major in 2006. In addition to Japan, he has been showing internationally in Copenhagen, Singapore, Taiwan, Rotterdam, San Francisco and others. Recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition “The Bark of Mind” (2014, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen), solo exhibition “The Leaf Scar” (2013, waitingroom, Tokyo), solo exhibition “Memories of My Garden : Hidden Forest” (2012, INAX Gallery, Tokyo). HIRAKO has been receiving many awards for the past couple of years, including “Shell Art Award 2009” (Finalist Nominated), “Tokyo Wonder Wall 2010” (Tokyo Wonder Wall Prize), and “VOCA (Vision of Contemporary Art) 2013” (The VOCA Encouragement Prize). In this fall 2015, he will have a large scale solo exhibition at Dai-ichi Life Gallery in Tokyo as well as YIRI ARTS in Taipei.

The title of the exhibition, Grafted Tree, is to connect more than two different plant bodies into one artificially made section and to make one individual plant. This skill is mainly used for “proliferation” and “reformation” of the new variety, however, there are many new possibilities in this technique and it is a great phenomenon that the plant’s creative ability appears.

The main motif in HIRAKO’s work is a human body with a plant head and it seems like an integration of pant and human being, created by the technique of “Grafted Tree”. HIRAKO’s expectation and hope for the diverse possibility of relationship between nature and human are put in this character, and wide varieties of plants and stories are assembled almost like a “Grafted Tree” in the landscape around this character, creating some type of “Utopia”.

This exhibition showcases 4-5 large size paintings (130 x 162 cm and bigger) as its highlight as well as brand new installation piece, several sculptures and several drawings.