Painting
Painting
Painting on Paper, Fusuma Screens, and Other Surfaces
Paintings that emerge from the act of painting and the relationship between each work and the place where it is situated.
Star is People is Star (かさねる）＃1
2026
PAINTING
Star is People is Star series / Emi Hirai & Minagu Hirai
Yoki! Kanaya / Tonami, Toyama
A painting from Star is People is Star, a series by Emi Hirai and Minagu Hirai. Painted on the fusuma sliding doors of a traditional Japanese house, the work was created as part of everyday life during a two-week artist residency.
RELATED PRACTICE
賑わいのとなりで（かさねる）
Beside the Bustle (Layering)
2026
PAINTING
Emi Hirai
Takamatsu Art Museum / Takamatsu, Japan
Since painting frames are difficult to obtain on the island, Emi chose discarded fusuma sliding doors as her painting surfaces. Adding layers of colour little by little each day, she covers earlier colours while leaving traces of them visible. Incorporating the wooden frames and dimensions of the fusuma into the paintings, the accumulated layers of colour and brushstrokes make the time spent creating them visible.
見えないものが生きている
Invisible Things Are Alive
2020
PAINTING / SERIES
Invisible Things Are Alive series / Emi Hirai
Takamatsu Art Museum / Takamatsu, Japan
A series of paintings Emi Hirai began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when live performances came to a halt. She has continued painting as if keeping a diary, recording the passage of time amid raising a child and everyday life.
For the 2026 exhibition at Takamatsu Art Museum, she selected 60 paintings from a body of approximately 100 works. She continued painting throughout the exhibition, eventually replacing all 60 exhibited works with new paintings. Rather than simply displaying finished works, she presented the ongoing act of painting and the changing exhibition itself as part of the work.
Live painting with Kazuhisa Uchihashi
2026
LIVE PAINTING / PERFORMANCE
Live Painting with Kazuhisa Uchihashi / Emi Hirai × Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Takamatsu Art Museum / Takamatsu, Japan
A live performance by Emi Hirai and musician Kazuhisa Uchihashi on March 5, 2026, during the exhibition Tonbi and Usagi: Beside the Bustle. Uchihashi’s live music and Hirai’s live painting unfolded together in the same space.
