23.7 – 25.10.2026
VILLA MALPENSATA – SPAZIO CIELO
The exhibition Beyond the Eyes is the first solo exhibition in Europe dedicated to the Japanese artist MIWA KOMATSU. The exhibition takes visitors into a visionary universe, where art, spirituality and nature intertwine through images of extraordinary intensity. Created in a state of semi-trance and without preparatory sketches, the works arise from a daily meditative practice intended as a connection between the visible and the invisible. Creatures inspired by Japanese mythology, folklore and spiritual tradition – guardian spirits and sacred animals – emerge from a whirlwind of colours, establishing a direct dialogue with the audience through the gaze.
The exhibition brings together some thirty works created between 2012 and 2026, some of which were created specifically for the MUSEC venue in Lugano. The exhibition comprises mainly acrylic paintings on canvas and wood, alongside works in wood, porcelain and resin. At the heart of Miwa Komatsu’s artistic practice lies a desire to make perceptible the invisible forces – spiritual, emotional and natural – that permeate human beings and the living world. The artwork thus becomes a space where the artist, the viewer and the community meet, reaffirming the power of art as a transformative experience and as an opportunity to reflect on our relationship with nature. Curated by Nora Segreto, a researcher at MUSEC, the exhibition is divided into five sections – The Gaze, Living Nature, Guardian Spirits, The Power of Colour and Active Silence – which guide the public on a journey of discovery through the artist’s poetics, founded on a dialogue between meditation, energy, colour and the living world.
The project has been conceived, developed and produced by the Fondazione culture e musei and MUSEC in collaboration with Fudo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.
Miwa Komatsu (1984) grew up and still lives in the mountainous prefecture of Nagano, where she has developed a
keen sensitivity towards nature, understood as an active organism, permeated by energies and presences with which to engage. This kind of perception, rooted in listening and attentiveness, forms the starting point for an imagination that never separates the human from the non-human, or the visible from the invisible. In 2003, she enrolled at the Joshibi University of Art and Design (Junior College) in Tokyo, a historic women’s institution, where she studied copperplate engraving and acquired a solid grounding in both Western and Japanese art history. During those same years, she developed an interest in calligraphy, meditation and Japanese spiritual traditions. She subsequently broadened her artistic language, experimenting with various media – engraving, porcelain, acrylic painting and live painting – chosen in relation to the conceptual and symbolic content of each work. A defining moment came in 2013 during a visit to Izumo Taisha Shrine, one of the oldest and most sacred sites in Shintoism, where she gained a renewed awareness of the symbolic power of colour, which has been central to her painting ever since. In the same year, she joined the team at Fudo Co., Ltd., an organisation dedicated to promoting Japanese culture and artistic techniques internationally, which continues to support and promote her work to this day. Her works are exhibited in numerous international, museum and institutional settings, consolidating her recognised presence on the global art scene. In 2021, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, a recognition that reflects her commitment to raising public awareness of the relationship between humankind and nature.
Global Aesthetics è un progetto dedicato all’esplorazione del rapporto tra l’arte contemporanea e il contesto ideologico e culturale in cui essa si muove.
Prevede per sua natura il confronto e l’interazione delle diverse discipline con cui leggere la creatività contemporanea e si offre così come una sperimentata metodologia in grado di conciliare le diverse prospettive in gioco.
