Artist Talk
Moderated by Gabrielle Niu, Assistant Curator, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Saturday, November 16, 4-5 pm. Registration required; register here.

Opening Reception
Saturday, November 16, 5-7 pm. Open to the public; registration not required.

Workshop: Be Brave – Make Your Mark
Hosted by the Boston Public Library. Registration required; register here.

Praise Shadows is deeply honored to share the newest body of work by Yuri Shimojo in the upcoming exhibition, Mirrors, her second solo at the gallery. This collection of ink paintings were made in the aftermath of her cancer treatment and diagnosis, the passing of her beloved dog and companion Rudy, and a long-delayed visit to Japan to parse through the archives of her deceased family and her samurai ancestors. Shimojo’s fluid, intuitive painting style is an expression of these recent years of upheaval, loss, and healing. In the simplest sense, Shimojo paints to tell us that she is grateful to be alive.

Collaboration is a hallmark of Shimojo’s approach to developing the artworks in Mirrors. While the act of painting remains hers alone, for the first time in her artistic career, Shimojo has mounted the paintings as scrolls, working with scroll masters in Osaka. Another major collaboration is with three ink makers who gifted pigments and inks specifically for these new paintings: Heidi Gustafson, an artist and ochre specialist from the Pacific Northwest with a working archive of more than 600 pigments; Thomas Little, a North Carolina-based artist who dissolves iron from guns into ink and pigment for use in his—and others’—artistic practice; and Jason Logan, founder of The Toronto Ink Company, and an author, artist and ink-maker.

Of the eight new paintings mounted as scrolls, only one is horizontal, using a unique mounting technique called 横披(Oh-hi) or 横幅 (Oh-fuku). Titled Unbroken Line: Kyoto Mountain Green, this was the first painting from her Unbroken Line series that was made in Japan. In 2023, Shimojo returned to Japan for the first time since the Covid pandemic and her cancer treatment. In her home and studio in Kyoto, situated on the verdant hill of the sacred pilgrimage path for ascetic mountain monks for centuries, this was the beginning of her emotional healing process. Reckoning with the aftermath of cancer, and also with her role as the sole and last custodian family’s centuries-old archives, the process of painting a green unbroken line provided solace. The green Japanese watercolor pigment echoed the summer leaves outside the window.

Indra’s Net (2023) takes its namesake from the ancient Buddhist and Hindu story about the King Indra who stretches a kaleidoscopic net across the universe. At every intersection is a faceted jewel, each unique and reflecting all the others. This beautiful metaphor for interconnectedness later became a poem by the Japanese writer Kenji Miyazawa, which inspired this painting. Using a “Fog Gray” prismatic colored ink made by Jason Logan, Shimojo created a constellation that appears to ascend and multiply, each shining jewel depicted by this handmade ink an intentional wish by the artist to shine a light on humanity’s connectedness.

In some paintings, the mirror is barely discernible, like a phantom. In Mirror 2, black sumi ink traverses the paper like an abstract sutra. At eye-level, an amorphous oval-like form is revealed. “Moon Mirror” iridescent ink conjured from mica by Jason Logan is integrated within the lines and spaces occupied by the sumi ink. The effect is both jarring and grounding, calling for the viewer to deepen their exchange with the painting. Above the horizon line of the unbroken line is a hazy band stretching across the top of the painting. This mirage-like cloud was painted using pre-historic volcanic ash gifted by Heidi Gustafson. Inspired by Shimojo’s earlier years living in the jungles of Hawaii, this pigment is traced to the 1.28 million years of volcanic ash from Mount Mazama that originated from Hawaiian eruptions, blown 530 miles north of where the ash originated. The story of the ash’s travels from an underworld source and through the sky resonated with Shimojo. In the making of this ink, she recalled, “initially Heidi and I had the idea to collect soil from my ancestor’s land. I made my pilgrimage to Japan, but it didn’t feel right when I arrived. I realized that while I have much respect for my samurai lineage, their story and relationship to war feels different than my own journey. I was drawn to the nomadic journey of the volcanic ash beyond time and space. The pigment reminded me of my definition of HOME, validating my existence on Earth without a tangible family land.”

A section of the exhibition is dedicated to these pigments, materials, and visual inspirations. On a table, jars and bottles from Gustafson, Little, and Logan, along with Shimojo’s Japanese watercolors and brushes, reveal the collaborations that provided her with community and purpose during these years of healing. Remnants of beautiful paper and other ephemera line the wall directly above the table, along with an oxidized oval mirror, no longer functional as a reflective tool, but essential to this story. Near it is one more painting by Shimojo: a small work on paper of an oval lined with auras of color, a mirror. It is a jewel within Shimojo’s net that reflects and refracts the universe’s shared experiences.

About the artist
Yuri Shimojo is a Tokyo-born, contemporary Japanese painter who lives and works between New York and Kyoto. The last descendent of her samurai clan who lost all of her immediate family members before the age of 30, Shimojo has always used painting to express the interconnected emotions of impermanence. With minimal formal training in fine art, her style is grounded in the traditional Japanese performing arts practice in her upbringing. Using traditional Japanese watercolor and inks, her work combines the abstract and the surreal, working through the lens of universal compassion. Before she situated her studio on the sacred mountain in Kyoto, she spent many years in Hawaii studying indigenous healing practices and spirituality. Her publication includes a memoir of her unique childhood with her late family. She has exhibited in the United States and Japan and is in private collections around the world. Her work and storyline are featured in the documentary film "The Colour of Ink." (2022) Learn more about Yuri Shimojo.

Image credit:
• Yuri Shimojo, Mirror 6 (Golden Oval) , 2024, handmade ink from Mica, Rudy Blue (dog’s blood serum) and other foraged elements, pigment from melted guns, pigment from prehistoric volcanic dust, Sumi ink and Japanese Watercolors on Washi Japanese paper (Kozo Kurotani Gasenshi), 15 x 28.75 inches (painting).
• Detail of Indra's Net, courtesy the artist.
• Yuri Shimojo, Mirror 1 (Guns and Petals) , 2024, pigment from melted guns, handmade ink from Mica and other foraged elements, graphite, willow charcoal, Sumi ink and Japanese Watercolors on Washi Japanese paper (Kozo Kurotani Gasenshi). Gampi paper for scroll mounting, Ebony wooden rod wrapped in silk, Cupro strings.19.25 x 39.4 inches paper mounted on 28.1 x 80.26 inches scroll
• Headshot of Yuri Shimojo by saikocamera, courtesy of the artist.