Tsuyoshi Higashijima “Into the Sky ー Painting Paradiso”

rin art association is pleased to announce “Into the Sky - Painting Paradiso,” a solo exhibition by Tsuyoshi Higashijima.

Higashijima’s painting explore beauty as something fluid and ever-changing. Rather than treating beauty as a fixed or universal value, his paintings approach it as something unstable and ever-changing—shaped by the movements of the heart, the body, and the surrounding environment. In this sense, painting becomes a mirror that reflects the shifting states of consciousness that arise within us.

By temporarily holding the heart in place, one becomes more sensitive to the subtle changes occurring within one’s own consciousness. From this heightened awareness, a new sense of beauty can begin to emerge.

For Higashijima, the act of painting begins in the confrontation between body and space. His works capture fleeting atmospheres and transient sensations, allowing memories of place and time to settle into the surface of the painting. Although his paintings may appear momentary, they contain layers of memory and emotion accumulated over years. As viewers encounter them, these layers begin to resonate with their own awareness, revealing beauty as something fluid, mutable, and constantly in motion.

This exhibition makes use of the gallery’s three-floor structure to create a vertical journey—one that leads viewers gradually from the ground toward the sky.

On the first floor, Guardian Spirit stands as a painting of protection and presence. Born from a struggle between gravity and the body, this large-scale work occupies the space with the traces of that physical encounter.

On the second floor, light seems to seep through fields of color, suggesting the presence of something just beyond sight. Somewhere within the space, a single thread appears. It may be a spider’s thread, a thread of cloud, a stairway leading toward the sky, a form of salvation, or perhaps a question.

On the third floor, the paintings are placed in natural light. Here, gravity seems to be released entirely, and the works open themselves toward the sky.

As viewers ascend through the gallery, the paintings gradually move from earth to sky. In doing so, they transform from “painted images” into states of being. Higashijima has said, “That place itself is Painting Paradiso.”

We hope this exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to quietly turn inward and reconsider their own definitions of beauty.