A MAN WHO WILL NOT DIE
TENMEI KANO
01 / EXHIBITION
TENMEI KANOface
Tenmei Kano digitally reworks faces he once photographed, then layers painting over the image. The photograph slips free from record and transforms into another presence.
At ArsKMW, recent works from “face” are shown alongside “fuck,” an early work from more than fifty years ago. Past and present meet in Ashimori.
02 / NEW WORKS
NEWFACES
Starting from a photograph, digital manipulation and painting are layered upon it. The face leaves the realm of record and becomes another presence.
ON THE PHOTOGRAPH,ANOTHER TIME IS LAYERED.
The photographed face is processed, drawn over, and gradually separated from the original person. Within that distance, a new portrait emerges.
THE FACE,BECOMES COLOR.
He loosens the outline and pushes the color outward. The portrait slips free from description and looks back at us as an image in its own right.
NOT A RECORD,BUT A TRANSFORMED PORTRAIT.
Rather than resemblance, what remains? By shifting the outline, color and gaze, he creates a different image of the same person.
03 / ARTIST
PHOTOGRAPH.PAINT.MAKE AGAIN.
TENMEI KANO NORIAKI KANO
After decades at the forefront of photography, Tenmei Kano now moves beyond the photograph, crossing digital manipulation and painting to create new portraits.
04 / EARLY WORK
THE PRESENT, AND THE ORIGIN.
fuck
Seen in the same space as “fuck,” an early work from more than fifty years ago, today’s “face” brings Kano’s present into sharper focus.
PAST / PRESENT / NORIAKI KANO
05 / FACE
FACE
WHAT COMES NEXT,A NEW “face”.
06 / SPECIAL PROJECT
TENMEI KANO
PHOTOGRAPHS,PAINTS.
YOUR SOUL,PHOTOGRAPHED BY TENMEI KANO,
PAINTED FROM THAT SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH.
Photography and painting become a new portrait made for one person.
07 / PROCESS
THEMAKING
PHOTOGRAPHY.CONVERSATION.TRANSFORMATION.
One face becomes a photograph, is reworked, painted, and rises again as another “face”.
08 / COMMISSION PROJECT
ONE PERSON / ONE PORTRAIT
YOURFACE.
TENMEI KANO PHOTOGRAPHS YOU.FROM THAT SINGLE IMAGE, HE PAINTS.A SINGLE “face” IS MADE FOR YOU ALONE.
LIMITED 100 PEOPLE / 100 WORKS
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY + PAINTING
09 / INFORMATION
TENMEI KANO / face
NOWON VIEW
2026 / ASHIMORI
ArsKMW
900-5 Ashimori, Kita-ku, Okayama
701-1463 JAPAN
Visitor information and reservations are available on the VISIT page.