Korehiko Hino Solo exhibition “Blue Painting, White Statue”
session：2026.3.21sat - 5.9sat 13:00 - 19:00
*closed on Sun, Mon, Tue and public holidays.
venue：SNOW Contemporary / 404 Hayano Bldg. 2-13-12 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
opening reception : 2026.3.21sat 17:00 - 19:00
SNOW Contemporary is pleased to present Korehiko Hino’s solo exhibition “Blue Painting, White Statue” from March 21 (Saturday) to May 9 (Saturday), 2026.
Korehiko Hino was born in 1976 in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and received the VOCA Prize at “VOCA 2005 The Vision of Contemporary Art.” His distinctive style of striking portrayals of human figures quickly brought him into prominence, and he has since gained a large fan base both in Japan and abroad. Following the VOCA Prize, Hino has continued to pursue new challenges across various media, including not only oil painting but also watercolor, colored-pencil drawing, and sculpture.
In Hino’s portraits, the very existence of the human figure is brought to the foreground. As Hino himself states that he has “a desire to cut off narrative and purely extract the sense of human presence,” the body—as a vessel for emotions and the spirit—is thereby emphasized by highlighting human existence.
In this exhibition, Hino deliberately attempts to apply the color of blue, which he has frequently employed in the background as a complementary color to the orange he typically uses for skin tones, to the figures themselves. By reconfiguring the relationship between the figures and the background, Hino casts shadows on the blue-tinged figures while simultaneously creating a greater sense of instability in their presence. The artworks shown in this exhibition emphasize “emptiness” more strongly than ever before by encapsulating the fragility and uncertainty of human existence.
Regarding the creative process behind the sculptures to be showcased in this exhibition, the artist says he feels “the sensation of expressing an emotional void is well-suited to the inorganic nature of sculpture.” By using sculpture—a medium with physical weight—as a vehicle for the “emotional void” inherent in human beings, the artist has successfully expressed “emptiness” in a more visual and tactile manner. While he reconstructed the relationship between the figure and the background in his two-dimensional works, in his three-dimensional works, he incorporates mass, space, and shadow themselves to take a spatial approach to the concepts of loneliness and emptiness, establishing these concepts as powerful sculptural works.
In this solo exhibition, Hino’s first in approximately two years, he will present new works in oil painting, sculpture, and drawing. We cordially invite all to the tension-filled spatial experience created by Hino, who continues to express the anxiety and emptiness felt by everyone in today’s world.
Korehiko Hino “Blue Painting, White Statue”
*Artist Statement
Through my portraits, I have depicted the anxiety, loneliness, and emptiness experienced by those living today. In this exhibition, I present such impressions of “humans with empty hearts” in the form of paintings and sculptures.
The paintings to be exhibited are new works dominated by blue. I have often used blue in my work. This is because blue is effective as the complementary color to the orange used for skin tones. Orange for the human body, blue for the background—by controlling the intensity of this contrast, I have created a sense of three-dimensionality. In these new works, I have reversed this relationship by painting figures with blue-colored bodies. The blue that typically accentuates the presence of the human body now overlays the body itself, resulting in a faint, shadow-like presence.
While my practice has primarily centered on painting, I have also been engaged in sculpture. I feel that the sensation of expressing an emotional void is well-suited to the inorganic nature of sculpture. I presented a bronze sculpture for the first time at a solo exhibition in 2016, and showcased new bronze work at this year’s Art Fair Tokyo. The sculpture in this exhibition is my first stone sculpture, created by carving pure white marble over the course of more than a year.
Blue is a color that evokes the clear sky, while white can likewise be described as the color of blankness. In this exhibition, blue-dominated paintings and pure white sculptures are placed within the same space. By emphasizing blue and white, I aim to bring an even clearer sense of hollow presence.
session：2026.3.21sat - 5.9sat 13:00 - 19:00
*closed on Sun, Mon, Tue and public holidays.
venue：SNOW Contemporary / 404 Hayano Bldg. 2-13-12 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
opening reception : 2026.3.21sat 17:00 - 19:00
SNOW Contemporary is pleased to present Korehiko Hino’s solo exhibition “Blue Painting, White Statue” from March 21 (Saturday) to May 9 (Saturday), 2026.
Korehiko Hino was born in 1976 in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and received the VOCA Prize at “VOCA 2005 The Vision of Contemporary Art.” His distinctive style of striking portrayals of human figures quickly brought him into prominence, and he has since gained a large fan base both in Japan and abroad. Following the VOCA Prize, Hino has continued to pursue new challenges across various media, including not only oil painting but also watercolor, colored-pencil drawing, and sculpture.
In Hino’s portraits, the very existence of the human figure is brought to the foreground. As Hino himself states that he has “a desire to cut off narrative and purely extract the sense of human presence,” the body—as a vessel for emotions and the spirit—is thereby emphasized by highlighting human existence.
In this exhibition, Hino deliberately attempts to apply the color of blue, which he has frequently employed in the background as a complementary color to the orange he typically uses for skin tones, to the figures themselves. By reconfiguring the relationship between the figures and the background, Hino casts shadows on the blue-tinged figures while simultaneously creating a greater sense of instability in their presence. The artworks shown in this exhibition emphasize “emptiness” more strongly than ever before by encapsulating the fragility and uncertainty of human existence.
Regarding the creative process behind the sculptures to be showcased in this exhibition, the artist says he feels “the sensation of expressing an emotional void is well-suited to the inorganic nature of sculpture.” By using sculpture—a medium with physical weight—as a vehicle for the “emotional void” inherent in human beings, the artist has successfully expressed “emptiness” in a more visual and tactile manner. While he reconstructed the relationship between the figure and the background in his two-dimensional works, in his three-dimensional works, he incorporates mass, space, and shadow themselves to take a spatial approach to the concepts of loneliness and emptiness, establishing these concepts as powerful sculptural works.
In this solo exhibition, Hino’s first in approximately two years, he will present new works in oil painting, sculpture, and drawing. We cordially invite all to the tension-filled spatial experience created by Hino, who continues to express the anxiety and emptiness felt by everyone in today’s world.
Korehiko Hino “Blue Painting, White Statue”
*Artist Statement
Through my portraits, I have depicted the anxiety, loneliness, and emptiness experienced by those living today. In this exhibition, I present such impressions of “humans with empty hearts” in the form of paintings and sculptures.
The paintings to be exhibited are new works dominated by blue. I have often used blue in my work. This is because blue is effective as the complementary color to the orange used for skin tones. Orange for the human body, blue for the background—by controlling the intensity of this contrast, I have created a sense of three-dimensionality. In these new works, I have reversed this relationship by painting figures with blue-colored bodies. The blue that typically accentuates the presence of the human body now overlays the body itself, resulting in a faint, shadow-like presence.
While my practice has primarily centered on painting, I have also been engaged in sculpture. I feel that the sensation of expressing an emotional void is well-suited to the inorganic nature of sculpture. I presented a bronze sculpture for the first time at a solo exhibition in 2016, and showcased new bronze work at this year’s Art Fair Tokyo. The sculpture in this exhibition is my first stone sculpture, created by carving pure white marble over the course of more than a year.
Blue is a color that evokes the clear sky, while white can likewise be described as the color of blankness. In this exhibition, blue-dominated paintings and pure white sculptures are placed within the same space. By emphasizing blue and white, I aim to bring an even clearer sense of hollow presence.
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