Listening to Toko Shinoda: Resonance / Toko Shinoda: Lyrical

About the Exhibition

Listening to Toko Shinoda: Resonance


Musical elements such as the rhythm of a brush stroke, the feel of the brush for weight and blurring, and the ma between ink and blank space are often mentioned in referring to Toko Shinoda’s works. Moving beyond the framework of calligraphy, Toko developed a new form of abstract expression using lines of sumi ink. The viewer can feel the lively rhythm in her early works, the melody of highly refined lines and forms in her more recent works, as well as the hush between sounds in the blank space.
This exhibition shows some 25 works by Toko Shinoda that inspired composer Yumi Saiki. The exhibition also features a performance of a new piece of music Saiki composed on the theme of Toko’s Pleasure. Enjoy the profound resonance emanating from the encounter between Toko’s work and contemporary music.

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Toko Shinoda: Lyrical


Toko Shinoda has produced more than 1,000 lithographs. The additional touches she applied while the prints were being made further enrich the individual works. Lithography is printing but preserves the lively state of her original lines. The lithographs, therefore, present a somewhat different world from that of her ink paintings.
Lithographs with music-related titles presented in this exhibition were selected from among the over-240 lithographs by Toko Shinoda in the Gifu Collection of Modern Arts Foundation collection.
In an essay, Toko wrote: “I sometimes work thinking of converting sound into form. I depict sound using sumi ink. I always try to listen for good sounds so that they can come to my mind when I am ready.” The sound that comes to her mind in applying the finishing touches to her lithographs may resonate with her sumi ink to produce a beautiful poem.