The word “Stitch” in the exhibition title refers to the act of working in needle and thread. What does “stitches” mean to you? For many, what “stitches” calls to mind is handicrafts, needle art, or perhaps traditional embroidery or embroidery found on ethnic clothing. The work included in this exhibition will very likely confound those expectations.

The artists presented here have chosen needle and thread as the medium in which to fix their times and memories or to explore their inner selves, traced in lines quite distinct from those possible in oil paintings or drawings. To stitch is to build up a work by means of the stitch-by-stitch decisions through which the artist achieves self expression. Because these artists work in materials familiar to all of us, we can appreciate and empathize with the physical sensation of their work and the time and concentration they have poured into creating it. Stitch by stitch, these artists continually surprise us with their innovative means of expression and offer us the experience of a new joy in the act of seeing.

The setting for this exhibition, the Teien Art Museum, is especially significant, for each of the galleries in this museum, which was originally built as a private residence, retains its own character. The placement of these installations, through which the artists have raveled up their own creative worlds, in these distinctive galleries adds an extra dimension to the works.

* The text provided by Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum.