WALL_alternative, a nighttime alternative space in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo operated by Avex Creator Agency, is holding a solo exhibition by artist Nami Okada titled "Coordinates of Presence" from September 2 (Wednesday) to September 26 (Saturday), 2026.
Okada explores the relationship between time and memory through landscape. She has previously presented her "one view" series, which layers the landscapes and memories she has witnessed into still, painterly compositions, and her "VOID" series, which extends that painterly language into a more cinematic register.
This exhibition turns its focus to photography, now an inseparable part of daily life. The spread of smartphones and other digital devices has made it easier than ever to capture the landscapes we see, and with greater clarity than before. Yet even as photos and videos continue to accumulate in vast numbers, we look back on them less often, and the outlines of the landscapes that remain in memory have, if anything, grown more blurred.
Records that grow sharper through technology, and memories that fade with time — starting from this contradiction, Okada develops new works around the flux that arises between the landscapes captured by photographs and the landscapes that remain in memory.
The exhibition brings together new works from both the "one view" and "VOID" series. It also debuts a new piece: a bound volume containing roughly 350 drawings on organza.
Okada has developed a signature technique of layering paint into thin films, scraping it back, and layering it again, building paintings in which different moments and memories coexist on a single surface. The organza used in this new work behaves similarly: each sheet is thin and translucent, letting the image behind it show through, and its appearance shifts as more layers are stacked. The paint's layered film and the 350 sheets of organza arrive at their images through different methods, yet both echo the way memory accumulates over time, grows indistinct, and sometimes transforms into a different image altogether.
Rather than standing alone as a self-contained piece, the bound volume is placed within the space so that its presence and positioning also shift how the surrounding paintings and the space itself are perceived.
Landscapes that are recorded, and landscapes that remain in memory — visitors are invited to experience the "presence" that drifts between the two.
Artist's Statement
"I explore the relationship between time and memory through landscape. We live in an age when landscapes are recorded more than ever before through photography and video, yet the landscapes that remain in our memory have, if anything, grown more blurred. This contradiction — records that keep accumulating, and the outlines of memory that keep fading — is the starting point of my work.
"Layering the surface of a painting is not a way of bringing a landscape to completion, but a way of translating that feeling into paint. Each layer accumulates traces of different times, memories, and information, and where they overlap, multiple moments come to coexist within a single landscape. The landscapes I paint are not meant to reproduce a specific place; I hope they resonate with each viewer's own memories and experiences, and take shape within them as a landscape of their own."
— Nami Okada
About the Artist: Nami Okada
Born in Gunma Prefecture in 1991, Okada completed her graduate studies at Tama Art University in 2016.
Her recent major exhibitions include the Arts Maebashi 10th-anniversary exhibition "New Horizon: From History to the Future" (Arts Maebashi, 2023), a two-person exhibition at Mother New York, "flow of time" (Ginza Tsutaya Books), and NANJO SELECTION vol.2 "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (N&A Art SITE). She has also exhibited at art fairs in Japan and abroad, including Art Miami, Volta New York, Art Düsseldorf, and Art Fair Tokyo.
Through painting, Okada expresses the concept of time and memory, depicting landscape as a symbol of the relationship between time and space, in images that seem to capture a single eternal moment.
Within seemingly quiet scenes — the line between sea and sky, landscapes of mountains and trees — she paints with an awareness of leaving traces of the passage of time and change. These traces show the end and beginning of a moment existing simultaneously, arising from her search for a way to express the coexistence of the eternal and the instantaneous. By drawing out viewers' own memories and layering them over the painting in front of them, she aims to generate multiple images at once, working toward a highly abstract yet representational landscape woven from memories held in common at a deep level across viewers.
Her work is held in the collections of Arts Maebashi and the UESHIMA COLLECTION.
Opening Reception
An opening reception will be held on September 2, 2026 (Wednesday) from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, with Nami Okada in attendance, giving visitors a chance to view the works while meeting the artist. The venue will return to regular service from 10:00 PM. Admission is free; advance registration is required.
Drink: Tone Winery
Located at an elevation of roughly 700 meters on the slopes of Mount Akagi in Gunma Prefecture — Okada's home prefecture — the winery's vineyard benefits from a cool climate and rich natural surroundings, where the grapes are grown with care. As a small winery, it takes a hands-on approach to every step of the process.
During the exhibition, the venue's bar will offer a limited-time menu featuring three of the winery's wines: "I'm Chardonnay Sparkling Wine," "I'm Merlot (Red) — Barrel-Aged," and "I'm Chardonnay (White) — Barrel-Aged," to enjoy alongside the artwork.
Exhibition Details
- Title: Nami Okada, "Coordinates of Presence"
- Venue: WALL_alternative (1F, 4-2-4 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
- Dates: September 2 (Wednesday) – September 26 (Saturday), 2026 (closed Sundays; open from 7:00 PM on September 2 only)
- Hours: 6:00 PM – midnight
- Admission: Free, no reservation required
- Organizer: WALL_alternative
- Cooperation: Kotona Art Direction
- Graphic design: Ayuko Kuwata
- Official website: https://avex.jp/wall/exhibition/877/
