Ayako Rokkaku Untitled 2025 hand-blown glass 62 x 27 x 25 cm 24 3/8 x 10 5/8 x 9 7/8 in 1 + 1 AP (#1/1)
BERLIN — Within the brutalist echoes of the Nave at St. Agnes, a new kind of landscape is taking root. KÖNIG GALERIE is proud to present SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, the fourth solo exhibition by Ayako Rokkaku with the gallery.
The exhibition officially opens with a reception on January 15, 2026, and will be on public view from January 16 through April 5, 2026.
This ambitious showcase marks a significant milestone in Rokkaku’s career, uniting her world-renowned painting practice with an expansive, multi-material approach to sculpture.
Rokkaku’s work has always been a rejection of distance. For over two decades, the Chiba-born artist (b. 1982) has famously eschewed brushes in favor of her bare hands, applying acrylics with a rhythmic, performative energy that translates the motion of her body directly onto the canvas.
In SCENERY IN THE PROCESS OF BEING FORMED, this instinctive philosophy extends into glass, clay, bronze, and fabric.
The exhibition is a travelogue of sensations rather than sights. It captures the "quiet accumulation" of the artist's life between Berlin, Porto, and Tokyo—the specific glow of a new city’s morning light, the tactile grit of a Mediterranean market, and the vertical pulse of an urban skyline.
The Nave is transformed into a sanctuary of emerging forms, featuring works born from Rokkaku’s recent global residencies:
Luminous Glass
These glass pieces were produced at the Berengo Studio in Murano during the early months of 2025.
They capture the traces of the artist’s fingertips within vibrant, molten layers. By doing so, the works freeze the energy of fluid movement into a lasting display of light.
Textile Topographies
A grand fabric installation serves as a tribute to Namsan Hill in Seoul.
The piece was built using various threads and textile fragments gathered from Dongdaemun Market. Through its hand-sewn layers, the work reflects the compact density and soaring verticality of the South Korean capital.
https://www.koeniggalerie.com/blogs/exhibitions/ayako-rokkaku-scenery-in-the-process-of-being-formed
Mediterranean Earth & Berlin Bronze
The ceramic sculptures created in Mallorca preserve the tactile warmth and memory of the artist’s hands within the porous clay.
These organic shapes achieve a more enduring state through bronze editions cast at the Noack Foundry in Berlin.
This process ensures that the raw, immediate energy of the original hand-molded clay is permanently preserved in metal.
Accompanying the sculptural works is a new series of paintings where Rokkaku’s signature "kawaii" (cute) aesthetic meets profound abstraction.
Drifting colors suggest mountains, seas, and interior terrains that refuse to be fixed in place. Because Rokkaku works without prior sketches, each canvas is a record of a live, unmediated encounter between the artist and her medium.
Rokkaku’s visual language—populated by fantastical characters and imagined landscapes—radiates a "lightness of being." It is a testament to the boundless imagination of a child, refined through the sophisticated hand of a global contemporary master.
In this exhibition, landscapes are not merely depicted; they are felt into existence, inviting the audience to witness a world that is still, even now, gathering itself into view.
https://www.koeniggalerie.com/blogs/exhibitions/ayako-rokkaku-scenery-in-the-process-of-being-formed
