Japanese artist Mari Ito will unveil Origin of Desire, her first solo exhibition in India, at a New Delhi venue from 24 April to 1 May 2026.
Exhibition Overview
Origin of Desire fills The Ballroom at Bikaner House with Mari Ito’s bold sculptures and paintings. Her works show surreal flowers with human faces and swelling plant shapes. Bright colours and deep layers draw you into a world of wild life and hidden feelings.
Artist’s Unique Style
Mari Ito lives in Barcelona but roots her art in old Japanese methods called Nihonga. She layers pigments, ink, and glue on special paper. This mix gives her paintings a flat grace from Japan and glowing depth from Spain. Her flowers and forms pulse with life, like cells dancing under skin.
Themes of Desire and Rebellion
Origin of Desire turns plants into stories of want and fight-back. Seeds swell, petals bloom with faces, and shapes leak free from old rules. Ito challenges ideas of home and duty from post-war Japan. Her art makes the body a place of change and power, not control.
Ito says: “To visualise this multifaceted nature of desire, I paint many different facial expressions, symbolising the complex emotions that swirl within us. Just as our cells respond subtly when we feel emotions, plants also move and grow through the activity of their cells. The many dots, grains, and patterns in my work represent the invisible world, cells, bacteria, the movement of air, an attempt to make these unseen life forces visible.”
Gallery’s Bold Vision
GEEK/ART in New Delhi starts fresh shows with Origin of Desire. They bring Asian artists to India with new voices and events. Wribhu Borphukon, the director, shares: “Geek Art as a gallery is committed to setting up encounters with practices, methods, and experiments in art from all across Asia, pushing what the imagination of art from this geography could be. With one of the gallery’s bases in New Delhi, we are looking to anchor this with strength. The solo exhibition by Mari Ito, a first by her in India, marks the start of independent programming for us—bringing new artistic voices, publishing, and public engagements.”
About Japanese Artist Mari Ito
Born in Tokyo in 1980, Mari Ito trained in Nihonga painting. Now in Barcelona, she blends Japanese craft with lively forms. Her surreal plants show joy, anger, and longing. Shows in Barcelona, Madrid, and New York highlight her skill.
Exhibition Details
- Title: Origin of Desire
- Artist: Mari Ito
- Venue: The Ballroom, Bikaner House, New Delhi (presented by GEEK/ART)
- Dates: 24 April – 1 May 2026
- Timings: 11:00 am – 6:30 pm daily
This article has been created from the press kit shared with Abir Pothi. For press releases and related queries, write to editor@abirpothi.com.
Cover Image: GA_MI | Joy Can Lost Forever, Depending on How You Percieve it | Image Credit: GEEK/ART
Akanksha is an Associate Editor at Abir Pothi, writing on contemporary art and creating engaging videos that highlight artists and make art accessible to wider audiences.
