Takato Kano Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Toko Shinoda (Japanese,1913–2021), on view from March 9 to April 24, 2026.
Toko Shinoda was a pioneering Japanese artist and essayist renowned for her calligraphic abstraction. Living to the remarkable age of 107, she was among the world’s oldest practicing artists at the time. Over the course of her long and prolific life, she transcended the boundaries of traditional calligraphy, integrating the disciplined spirit of sumi ink with a refined modernist sensibility. In doing so, she established a singular visual language that earned international recognition.
For Shinoda, the brushstroke was an immediate and irreversible act inseparable from the self. She believed that a line reveals the person and cannot be redrawn. A stroke was therefore not merely a formal element but a trace of existence containing breath, time, memory, and intention.
The exhibition title, “Life Is a Single Line“, embodies not only her own life but also conveys a universal message. Each decisive gesture reflects a lifetime in which discipline, intuition, and accumulated experience converge into a single line. In this sense, her work stands as a quiet yet powerful reminder that life, like a line, is drawn once and cannot be repeated.
We warmly invite you to visit Takato Kano Gallery Yokohama to experience these significant works and encounter the profound artistic vision she realized over more than a century.
Venue | Takato Kano Gallery Yokohama
1-24-2 Uenocho, Naka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0842, Japan
Exhibition Period | March 9 – April 24, 2026
Opening Hours | 10:00 – 18:00
(Closed on 13th of March, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays / Closes at 17:00 on the final day / By appointment only on Tuesdays and Thursdays)
@takato_kano_gallery