Photo by Ujin Matsuo

 

▪︎Talk Event
《Eating Sculpture》
Date & Time: September 5 (Sat), around 3:00 PM
Venue: LOKO GALLERY & Caffè NODO

 

Following his 2024 solo exhibition, Not stand alone – Connections and Ways of Practice, LOKO GALLERY is pleased to present Sculptglyph: A Spell of Sculpture.

Ishikawa’s studio is in a natural forest and has neither a roof nor a floor. There, stone sculptures without pedestals are placed as if leaning gently against the trees. Before confronting sculpture itself, there is a connection with nature and with other people. Through these relationships, Ishikawa has found the way of practice through which he approaches sculpture.

The sound of carving stone gradually became words, and those words were carved onto fragmented stone slabs as pictographic characters resembling incantations. These pictographs were created from Ishikawa’s phrase, “What is sculpture? Here, I write it down.” Can they, like hieroglyphs, be translated into an existing writing system?

Sculptglyph is a coined word combining “Sculpture” and “Glyph” (an engraved character or pictograph). Born at the point where sculpture and language intersect, these pictographic characters are not merely a means of conveying meaning. They are also traces of the act of carving and are, in themselves, sculpture.

We warmly invite you to visit LOKO GALLERY and encounter the pictographic characters engraved in the works while reflecting on Ishikawa’s continuing question: What is sculpture?

 

On Saturday, September 5, we will also hold a talk event entitled “Eating Sculpture.” We hope you will join us for an informal gathering around a barbecue at the end of summer, where we can share conversations about art together.

 

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Sculptglyph — A Spell of Sculpture

Naoya ISHIKAWA

I have spent my life creating sculptures. Yet I often find myself wondering: how many of them could truly be called sculpture?
Over the past few years, I have created a series titled”Not Stand Alone“. These works became the first sculptures that felt genuinely natural to me. Through them, I came to understand the many kinds of connections that bind us together.

From here on, I want to continue creating those connections.
So, as a statement for this exhibition, perhaps these words are enough:

 

“Here, I write what sculpture is.”

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Naoya ISHIKAWA – CV

1987 Born in Tokyo, Japan.Lives and works in Kanagawa, Japan
2010 Tokyo University of the Arts, B.F.A., Sculpture
2012 Tokyo University of the Arts, M.F.A., Sculpture
Currently active as a sculptor. Owner of Gallery Gigi

 

▪︎ Solo Exhibitions
2026  A Spell of Sculptur / LOKO GALLERY, Tokyo
2024  Not stand alone – Somewhere in This World / KATSUYA SUSUKI GALLERY, Tokyo
2024  “yakai” On Boundaries / HUG FOR＿., Kanagawa
2024  Not stand alone – Connection and Etiquette / LOKO GALLERY, Tokyo
2022  LINE / RISE GALLERY, Tokyo
2022  Not stand alone / Gallery Pictor, Kanagawa
2015   Naoya Ishikawa Exhibition – Daily Life / KANEKO ART TOKYO, Tokyo

 

▪︎ Selected Group Exhibitions
2026「Painting with Marble ── Entrusted tools, entrusted paintings 」CREATIVE SPACE HAYASHI (Kanagawa）
2026  “Enoshima Art Festival 2026” on Enoshima Island, Iwamotoro (Kanagawa)
2026   Thinking with Hands, Drawing with the Mind / Gallery FACE TO FACE, Tokyo
2025   The space between us / VALLOON STUDIO SHIBUYA, Tokyo
2025   Oil on Marble / CAVE-AYUMI GALLERY, Tokyo
2025   Madoka / HUG FOR＿., Kanagawa
2024   awareness / s+arts, Tokyo
2024   Marble with… / LIGHT HOUSE GALLERY, Tokyo
2024   Inbetween / CREATIVE SPACE HAYASHI, Kanagawa
2023   Constellations of Viewpoint / Ginga 101, Tokyo
2023   Ballet meets Art vol.2 / KATSUYA SUSUKI GALLERY, Tokyo
2023   dialogue: Naoya Ishikawa / Hikari Yamaguchi / s+arts, Tokyo
2023   The Center Is Everywhere and Multiple – Final Group Show / Gallery Pictor & Hōan, Kanagawa
2022   ART NAKANOSHIMA 2022 / MA2 Gallery Booth, Osaka
2022   NAOTO KUMAGAI × NAOYA ISHIKAWA: Oil on Marble / Gallery Gigi, Kanagawa
2022   Progress – Time of Stone, Time of Fabric / s+arts, Tokyo
2021   awareness / Gallery Pictor, Kanagawa
2021   Independent Tokyo 2021 / Tokyo Port City Takeshiba (Tagboat), Tokyo
2020   My Sculpture / Gallery Gigi, Kanagawa
2018   Sculpture Exhibition on an 11㎡ Wall / Iriya Gallery, Tokyo
2017   STONE – The Raw Material of Expression / FEI ART MUSEUM YOKOHAMA, Kanagawa
2016   Finding, and Finding Again / Fujisawa City Art Space, Kanagawa
2014   Tōkamachi Stone Sculpture Symposium / Tōkamachi, Niigata

 

▪︎ Awards
2023   Kanagawa Prefecture Cultural Award, Future Prize
2021   Independent Tokyo 2021, Jury Special Prize – LEESAYAr (Li Saya)
2021   Independent Tokyo 2021, Jury Special Prize – RISE GALLERY (Junichi Aso)
2021   Independent Tokyo 2021, Jury Special Prize – s+arts (Tomoharu Yamamoto)
2018   Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition, Selected
2015   Kanagawa Prefectural Art Exhibition, Selected
2012   Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Works Exhibition, Tokyo Governor’s Award
2010   Tokyo University of the Arts Graduation Works Exhibition, Tokyo Governor’s Award / Ataka Award

 

 

アーティストWEBサイト
https://naoyaishikawa.jimdofree.com/

Instagram
@ishikawa_naoya_sculptor

ARTIST PROFILE: Naoya ISHIKAWA