August 2026 Ai Naruyama jam
LURF GALLERY 2F is pleased to present the solo exhibition "jam" by artist Ai Nariyama.
Nariyama has presented works featuring images that are neither wholly abstract nor figurative. They arise from her attempt to translate the fresh impressions held in her memory into painting while preserving them as fully as possible. Faced with these ambiguous forms, viewers seek to reconcile them in their minds as recognizable images. In this sense, the viewer takes up and continues Nariyama's creative process, participating in it through the act of looking.
On Nariyama's canvases, multiple images overlap without resolving into a single meaning. Forms and colors compete with one another, continually changing their appearance as the viewer's gaze moves across the surface.
The exhibition title, "jam," evokes the state of the artist's mind during the creative process—densely packed with a multitude of images and sensations. We warmly invite you to experience Ai Nariyama's new works in person.
EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
Ai Nariyama Solo Exhibition: “jam”
-
DATES
August 21, 2026(Fri.) – September 13(Sun.)
-
VENUE
LURF GALLERY 2F
-
HOURS
11:00 – 19:00
-
ADDRESS
Roob1, 28-13 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0033, Japan
STATEMENT
My practice explores how the immaterial, perpetually unfocused "images" of memory might be expressed—or translated into a pictorial equivalent—using highly material paint on a two-dimensional surface that readily comes into focus.
Since images are present on the surface, my works are, of course, not Non-Figurative. Yet neither are they Figurative works constructed through the composition and organization of images. To put it deliberately, what is depicted on the surface is Figurative, while the works are Abstract in the sense that their elements are extracted through the act of painting.
What I attempt to hold on the surface is not a clearly defined image, but the frustrating sensation of the gaze continually circling in search of focus—of something that seems almost within reach yet remains impossible to grasp. This sensation resonates with the central axis of my thinking: "to look with doubt." The pictorial field in which this axis could remain embedded while wavering intensely was an "unresolved surface"—a surface that refuses to settle into order. The motifs I wanted to address within it were the immaterial and indistinct images of memory. The characteristics of painting, however—constructing a surface stroke by stroke—make it extremely difficult to preserve an active sensation rather than merely recording a passive impression. The more one paints, the more explanatory details accumulate, and the image becomes increasingly fixed in focus.
For this reason, I deliberately use snapshots found on social media and across various forms of visual media—images that anyone can encounter in everyday life—so as not to become submerged in intensely personal memories that remain deeply imprinted on my senses. After viewing vast quantities of such images, I paint the state of memory that lingers in the depths of consciousness.
The works in this exhibition were created from images packed tightly into a mind sealed shut while they were still juicy. As I worked, the inside of my head felt like a jar of jam filled with generous pieces of fruit.
Ai Nariyama
ARTISTS
Ai NARIYAMA
成山 亜衣
My practice explores how the immaterial, perpetually unfocused "images" of memory might be expressed—or translated into a pictorial equivalent—using highly material paint on a two-dimensional surface that readily comes into focus.
Learn more