At the Montblanc Ginza Main Store, Japan's flagship boutique, a joint exhibition titled "Distant Sail Shadows" by Risako Ebara and Yoichiro Otani will be held from Friday, July 30, 2021, to Friday, October 29, 2021. The exhibition, themed "Perspectives on Asia," will showcase works that creatively reweave the region's unique cultures, such as the diverse and complex history of Asia and East Asian Kanji culture. This special exhibition is a collaboration between Montblanc and The Chain Museum, a project that proposes new relationships between art and individuals by combining business and technology, with the concept of "creating the next form of art."

The Chain Museum is a project that aims to transform the relationship between art and individuals by combining business and technology, making art more autonomous and free, and unfolds various activities. Montblanc, which has led "writing culture" for over 110 years and has fostered communication through letters between people, deeply resonates with The Chain Museum's activities. The Montblanc Ginza Main Store, its flagship in Japan, has served as the venue for special exhibitions by five emerging young artists. This fourth installment features a joint exhibition by Risako Ebara and Yoichiro Otani, "Distant Sail Shadows," with new works displayed and sold in the shop windows and throughout the store.

The theme of this exhibition is "Perspectives on Asia." Risako Ebara creates works themed around utopia, drawing inspiration from Asian motifs, including those from Japan, and everyday thoughts. She is an artist who pursues new possibilities in painting, working with Japanese, oil, and fresco techniques. Yoichiro Otani uses Kanji as a compositional element in his paintings, creating works that resonate with people in the East Asian Kanji cultural sphere. By exhibiting the works of these two artists at the Montblanc Ginza Main Store, Asia's largest boutique, the store gains the potential for a new communication space. The exhibited works can also be viewed through The Chain Museum's art community platform, the "ArtSticker" app (https://artsticker.app/share/events/detail/644).

Tokyo, where the store is located, is a city where many people come and go, and where diverse cultures, ideas, and histories intersect. Ebara's work approaches this from a dual perspective, encompassing both Eastern and Western viewpoints. Her characteristic technique involves a process of repeated "creation, destruction, and restoration," using a fresco restoration method called "strappo." The works exhibited in this show are inspired by fieldwork at the Kizil Caves, which, due to their religious significance, have been repeatedly plundered and destroyed, yet still stand today. Traditional mural techniques intersect with contemporary mediums, reconfiguring the complex history of the region and bringing it forth for the viewer. Otani, on the other hand, attempts to expand the expressive range of characters. His new works presented here begin with the universal mental landscape of water surfaces, expressing the ripples of scenery reflected upon them. At first glance, the works may appear to be pointillist, but upon closer inspection, one can see that they are formed by overlapping homophonous Kanji characters. The simple yet multi-layered imagery of the water surface will serve as a "vessel" where various "Kanji" characters, imbued with diverse information, meet and mingle.

The title of this exhibition, "Distant Sail Shadows" (孤帆の遠影), is derived from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. The poem depicts a beautiful scene on the day a friend embarks on a journey down a great river by boat. While Asia possesses unique cultures in each region, it has reached several turning points amidst rapid Westernization. The artists move beyond a simple dichotomy of East and West, creatively reweaving the region's inherent cultures. Let us set sail towards the great river of Asian history from this place where multiple contexts intertwine.