What do you get when an artist famous for his sculptures of deer and other creatures encrusted with crystal balls…
meets an artist whose specialty is reimagining reality by embroidering and embellishing works on paper?
I bet you didn’t expect this.
Kyohei Nawa’s clear spherical “cells” magnify our view of what lies underneath, but they take an unexpected turn when paired with Asami Kiyokawa’s dreamy, embroidered works, delving even deeper into the world unseen beneath the surface of reality.
Kiyosawa starts with an image on paper or fabric, then transforms it with stitched thread, wire pins…
sequins, beads, and other tactile elements to give us a glimpse of the creatures, blooms and beings that swirl up from dreams and the subconscious.
Back in 2021, the image she chose as a basis of exploration was a photo of one of Kyohei Nawa’s earlier works. This dreamy, stitched and beaded piece was the result.
Five years later, it blossomed into the large-scale splendor of the current “Invisible Garden” exhibition.
The first floor of the POLA Museum Annex displays one of Nawa’s crystal ball covered stags standing among a garden of Kiyokawa’s fantastical white embroidered flowers, turning that early work on paper into a 3-D diorama.
The centerpiece of Kiyokawa and Nawa’s “PixCell” collaboration series is this lush mural
that becomes even more spectacular the closer you get.
As we admire it from every angle…
note how the crystal “cells” layered over the embroidered base magnify the details of the painted and stitched images behind them…
weaving it into a feast of color and pattern
that truly embodies both artists’ pursuit of what hidden meanings lie beneath the surface, in art and in life.
There are two more collaboration pieces in the exhibition, but these delve into a slightly different idea—that what we see depends on our own points of view. “PixCell Random” 1 & 2 are grids of clear marbles which only reveal the colors behind when you’re standing right in front of them. As you walk past, the colors disappear, and can’t be seen from other angles.
Underlining the creative power of collaboration, there are several more recent works by Kiyokawa that suggest her work with Nawa is inspiring her in new directions. Several pieces begin with hand-embellished images that are then layered with thin sheets of printed acrylic, so they change as you walk past, revealing different shimmering images from different angles.
And even though this is the kind of work that does look amazing in photos, “Invisible Garden” is one of those exhibits that truly rewards standing in the gallery and pondering them from every angle.
If you’re in Tokyo right now, GO!
“Invisible Garden”
works by Kyohei Nawa and Asami Kiyokawa
at the POLA Museum Annex
September 16 – November 8, 2026
Open: Every day
Hours: 11:00 – 19:00
Admission: Free
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
