An ego as a species sprouts, and from there it goes in the direction indicated. Like a flower blooming, the new glass works by Fukuo Tanaka, which respond, branch and evolve, will be on display. 

MEGUMI OGITA GALLERY is pleased to present Fukuo Tanaka’s solo exhibition “As a Species”. Tanaka works with highly transparent, heat-resistant borosilicate glass. After graduating from a glass art school, he has shown the work under his own brand “Topnoch”. He is in charge of the glass eyes of Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s wood carvings, expressing the white, iris and pupil, and he has also created glass parts other than the eyes for the first time for Tsuchiya’s solo exhibition “Animals and Humans”, which will be held here at the same time.

Tanaka, who has studied glass for many years, uses an advanced technique known as “inside-out” to create dainty, delicate works at will. Pieces of glass, struck in dots, are heated on the outside of a test tube shaped glass with a burner, and they transform into various patterns as they melt, creating a microcosm whilst shaping the whole. The production environment, in which the glass is heated to nearly 1000°C, is extremely harsh, and not a small number of works break under the strain of the process.