Shigeru Hasegawa: Pain Tengu @ Toyota Municipal Museum of Art
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art presents "Pain Tengu," a solo exhibition by painter Shigeru Hasegawa featuring about 120 oil paintings, drawings, and archival materials.Summary
Toyota Municipal Museum of Art is hosting "Shigeru Hasegawa: Pain Tengu," a solo exhibition running from October 24, 2026 to January 24, 2027, that surveys the painter's long career through a mix of old and new works. Shigeru Hasegawa (b. 1963) graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music's graduate program, moved to Germany in 1989, and studied under Jan Dibbets at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. In 1992 he moved to the Netherlands, where he stayed until 1996 after a residency at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. He has combined motifs reminiscent of still lifes—eggplants, cucumbers, bananas, fish—with Western-derived motifs such as drapery and chair legs, treating them as forms stripped of meaning, and has continually attempted to paint different pictures using limited elements. He paused exhibitions in 2013 but continued producing work, and since resuming solo shows in 2019 he has been actively presenting his art.
The exhibition features approximately 120 oil paintings along with drawings and archival materials. The first, double-height room intermingles old and new, large and small works, allowing visitors to experience both the dramatic development and the consistency of Hasegawa's practice; it includes three monumental works over three meters that he tackled for the first time in about 30 years. His roughly three-and-a-half-year stay in Germany from 1989 is presented through previously unexhibited oil paintings that remained unpacked for a long time after his return. His Dutch period is represented mainly by three works over three meters from the collection of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum, including a painting using "ginger" as a motif that marked a breakthrough for him.
Hasegawa has also questioned the spaces in which his works are shown. Describing himself as having lived surrounded by Western imitation and faux culture, he feels a room covered in kitschy wallpaper is appropriate. In Gallery 3, about 40 small works are displayed across the entire wall against original wallpaper designed by Hasegawa. In Gallery 5, his works are shown alongside works from the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art collection selected by Hasegawa—René Magritte, William Morris, Aida Makoto, and others—against ready-made wallpaper. A glass case introduces the artist's miscellaneous collected objects and drawings.
Related events include gallery talks by the curators, a half-day gallery talk titled "Death Gel Talk Until Death" in which Hasegawa speaks while viewing works in the galleries, a dialogue between Hasegawa and Jō Shimizu, and a roundtable with Hasegawa, Yoshimi Chinzei, and Machiko Chiba. Held concurrently is "Teraichi Ida: 20 Years After His Death," and a set ticket (online only) allows admission to both exhibitions.
(Source：ART iT)