ART
Permanent Collection
A perfectly poised organic form rising from a boulder in the front courtyard is the first hint of the playful art on display at Roka. From the Ether series by Kohei Nawa (b. 1975), the sculpture is modelled after the changing forms of a liquid droplet as it falls, mirrored vertically to suggest infinity and a virtual state of weightlessness.
A painting by Ryo Shinagawa (b. 1987) anchors the far wall of the café-bar Moya, bringing a dynamic pop of fresh color to the interior of this space that functions as the de facto lobby. Its gold-leaf ground and theme of seasonal flowers and plants recalls the bird-and-flower paintings that embellished the sliding screens and walls of castle residences in the late sixteenth century. Adjacent to it is Alluvion (2021), a kaleidoscopic print by Daisuke Yokota (b. 1983). He exposed undeveloped film to light and a cocktail of chemicals to yield fissuring, bubbling polychromatic layers, which he then photographed.
Still more eye candy hangs on the walls of En, the restaurant. To the left as you enter is an untitled triptych (2022) of oil paintings by Kohei Yamada (b. 1997), who eschewed representation to return to the three foundations of his medium: outlines, gradation, and layering. At the rear wall of the restaurant is a 2022 work from the Calcite on Myth series by Shohei Yamamoto (b. 1994). It, too, questions the parameters of painting: Yamamoto used a hand roller to overlay rhythmic patterns of calcite on his reproductions of Greek heroic myths. Behind the counter are two 2022 works from Nawa’s Moment Photography series, in which the sculptor draws on his longtime interest in photography to explore notions of representation and materiality. Finally, the entrance to each guest suite is adorned with a large pit-fired vase by potter Masafumi Shigeta (b. 1985). Roka owner Shintaro Sasaki fills them himself with flowers and plants he gathers from the surrounding hills; these arrangements can be enjoyed from the main corridor, like a mini-gallery of ikebana.
ー Curator Shigeo Goto ー
The Roka Art Project is curated by Shigeo Goto, a professor at Kyoto University of the Arts and an editor and art producer known for his prolific projects in collaboration with such leading lights as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kishin Shinoyama, Mika Ninagawa, and many others. A visionary dedicated to the development of creative talent, he heads the Goto Lab, a correspondence school for graduate studies in art and design, as well as the A&E (Art & Edit) online salon, where he hosts sessions on how to introduce art-based thinking into business and other endeavors. Goto’s latest book, Unraveling the secrets of art, was published in Japanese in 2021.
A painting by Ryo Shinagawa (b. 1987) anchors the far wall of the café-bar Moya, bringing a dynamic pop of fresh color to the interior of this space that functions as the de facto lobby. Its gold-leaf ground and theme of seasonal flowers and plants recalls the bird-and-flower paintings that embellished the sliding screens and walls of castle residences in the late sixteenth century. Adjacent to it is Alluvion (2021), a kaleidoscopic print by Daisuke Yokota (b. 1983). He exposed undeveloped film to light and a cocktail of chemicals to yield fissuring, bubbling polychromatic layers, which he then photographed.
Still more eye candy hangs on the walls of En, the restaurant. To the left as you enter is an untitled triptych (2022) of oil paintings by Kohei Yamada (b. 1997), who eschewed representation to return to the three foundations of his medium: outlines, gradation, and layering. At the rear wall of the restaurant is a 2022 work from the Calcite on Myth series by Shohei Yamamoto (b. 1994). It, too, questions the parameters of painting: Yamamoto used a hand roller to overlay rhythmic patterns of calcite on his reproductions of Greek heroic myths. Behind the counter are two 2022 works from Nawa’s Moment Photography series, in which the sculptor draws on his longtime interest in photography to explore notions of representation and materiality. Finally, the entrance to each guest suite is adorned with a large pit-fired vase by potter Masafumi Shigeta (b. 1985). Roka owner Shintaro Sasaki fills them himself with flowers and plants he gathers from the surrounding hills; these arrangements can be enjoyed from the main corridor, like a mini-gallery of ikebana.
ー Curator Shigeo Goto ー
The Roka Art Project is curated by Shigeo Goto, a professor at Kyoto University of the Arts and an editor and art producer known for his prolific projects in collaboration with such leading lights as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kishin Shinoyama, Mika Ninagawa, and many others. A visionary dedicated to the development of creative talent, he heads the Goto Lab, a correspondence school for graduate studies in art and design, as well as the A&E (Art & Edit) online salon, where he hosts sessions on how to introduce art-based thinking into business and other endeavors. Goto’s latest book, Unraveling the secrets of art, was published in Japanese in 2021.
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