Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This article highlights the “METAMORPHOSES” exhibition at Kanda’s Kōtō gallery, running through August 2. Featuring order-based sales from accessory brand KASI alongside painter Mariko Enomoto’s works, the show explores themes of transformation and artistic fusion.
The gallery “Kōtō” in Kanda is hosting the exhibition “METAMORPHOSES” until August 2. The venue features order-based sales from the accessory brand “KASI” alongside works by painter Mariko Enomoto.
The exhibition was conceived by Kōtō director Risako Hayashi, who sensed a shared worldview between the two artists’ works. The title “METAMORPHOSES” is derived from the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s mythological collection “Metamorphoses.” Drawing parallels to stories where humans transform into animals, plants, or jewels, the exhibition aims to express inner desires and longings for change through KASI’s handcrafted accessories and Enomoto’s paintings.
KASI was founded in 2011 by designer Kanako Atsumi. The brand name means “hand” in Finnish, and Atsumi started creating pieces self-taught out of a pure impulse to “just keep making.” All items are hand-finished, primarily using natural woods such as birch, maple, katsura, and oak. By leveraging the individual variations in wood color, grain, and scent, KASI combines different materials like natural stones, shells, pearls, and porcelain to propose items that evoke a sense of natural fluctuation.
At the venue, a total of 42 pieces are available for order, including ribbon-motif rings inspired by Enomoto’s works, animal-motif accessories carved from wood, and necklaces incorporating horse mane and tail hair—all highlighting the texture of the materials. Additionally, magnetic rings (9,900–11,000 yen) and hand-shaped objects (19,800 yen) are on sale.
Mariko Enomoto is a painter who primarily creates faceless portrait works. She has previously provided cover illustrations for novels such as “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” (by Cho Nam-joo) and the Yomiuri Shimbun serialized novel “Yellow House” (by Mieko Kawakami).
At this exhibition, she presents a new series titled “ANINORMAL,” which projects the desire to transform into a distant, longed-for existence onto animals. The series, beginning with the words “A horse longing for flowers. A bird dreaming of the sky,” depicts creatures drawn to something they lack and undergoing transformation, expressing inexplicable yearnings and the emotion of moving from one place to another through the forms of animals.
