This spring, Hara Museum ARC will present Masako Ando: Ordinary Days in its special exhibition space Kankai Pavilion. Centered on an installation of approximately 150 small raku-fired pieces entitled The New Normal (2024), this exhibition showcases recent paintings (including work shown for the first time) and video art within the Japanese-style setting of the venue. Though small in scale, this show offers a valuable glimpse into the artist’s most recent explorations.
It was 14 years ago that Ando held The Garden of Belly Button (2012), a solo exhibition of pencil drawings and oil paintings at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, which closed in 2021. During a time when the artist felt psychologically detached from her earlier style of painting, she turned to the medium of ceramic reliefs to give physical form to painterly images, an effort that led to The New Normal installation of raku-fired ceramic pieces.
With raku, a technique that resonated with her state of mind, it was as if the small ceramic pieces that she made—flowers, apples, children’s feet, cats—had originated in the imaginary world of painting, but were extracted into the realm of reality through the use of her hands, clay and fire. Faced with the heartbreak of seemingly constant wars and disasters that plague the world, she refuses to succumb to that “new normal.” Instead, she “keeps her eyes focused on the burning fire and curling smoke, looking out for shiny fragments”*¹ that can be rescued one piece and one person at a time from the rubble.
*¹ Quoted from a conversation with Masako Ando.
Masako Ando
Born in Aichi prefecture in 1976 and based in the city of Seto, Ando’s major solo exhibitions include Hara Documents 9: Masako Ando – The Garden of Belly Button (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 2012) and Masako Ando: YUKUKAWA (Ichinomiya City Memorial Art Museum of Setsuko Migishi, Aichi, 2023). She is currently an associate professor in the Oil Painting Department at the Aichi University of the Arts. She received the 74th Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists in 2023. https://www.masakoando.com/
Information
Title: Masako Ando: Ordinary Days
Organized by: Hara Museum ARC
Supported by: Nomura Foundation
Cooperation provided by: Tomio Koyama Gallery
Venue: Kankai Pavilion at Hara Museum ARC
Dates: March 14 (Saturday) – September 6 (Sunday), 2026
Hours: 9:30 – 4:30 pm (last entry at 4:00 pm)
Closed: Thursdays (except during the month of August)
Admission (included in the admission for How to Make a Rainbow): General 1,800 yen; 70 and over 1,500 yen; university and high school students 1,000 yen; elementary and junior high school students 800 yen
*Free for Hara Museum ARC members and for elementary and junior high school students in Gunma prefecture on Saturdays during the school term.
*Advance online tickets (discounted, date-specific) https://e-tix.jp/haramuseum_arc/
Address: 2855-1 Kanai, Shibukawa, Gunma prefecture 377-0027
Tel: 0279-24-6585 Email: arc@haramuseum.or.jp Official Website: https://www.haramuseum.or.jp
X: @haramuseum_arc Instagram: @haramuseumarc
Related Events
-Supporting Members Event “Masako Ando Studio Visit” on May 31 (Sunday)
-“Meet the Artist: Masako Ando” on June 27 (Saturday) / June 28 (Sunday)
*Details to be posted on our official website at a later date.
Related Merchandise
The Museum Shop will be offering for purchase handkerchiefs featuring the exhibited work Carrot Juice.
*Details to be posted on our official website at a later date.
Reference
Interview regarding The Garden of Belly Button (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, 2012)
Interview with Masako Ando (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art)