Shingo Francis, Liminal Sphere (violet lake), 2025, Oil on canvas, Φ91.5 cm
Shingo Francis
Liminal Sphere
September 9 – October 18, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 13, 17:00-19:00
Tuesday-Saturday 12:00-19:00 (Closed on Mon, Sun, Public holidays)
Press Release
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MISA SHIN GALLERY is pleased to announce Liminal Sphere, a solo exhibition by Shingo Francis, on view from September 9 through October 18, 2025. In this exhibition, Francis presents new paintings from his acclaimed Interference series, featuring circular canvases and other new works.
Francis, who is active between the United States and Japan, has consistently expanded the possibilities of painting through his profound explorations of color, light, and perceptual space. Works from his Interference series use special materials that cause the pigment to reflect light differently depending on the viewer’s angle and the shifting light conditions, creating the impression that the paintings themselves are filled with light. This optical phenomenon, reminiscent of rainbows in the sky or the iridescence of butterfly wings, evokes an awareness of how color is mediated by particles of light.
The circular paintings on view were inspired by Francis’s experience during his 2024 solo exhibition at Chigasaki City Museum of Art. Encountering an unconventional space in the museum reminiscent of a traditional tokonoma alcove, he experimented with isolating the circular form found in his Interference series and presenting it as if floating within space. The circular shape of the canvas references the fundemantal form of patterns found in nature and the cosmos.
Liminal Sphere showcases ambitious new works that re-examine the relationship between the circle and its surrounding space, reconsider basic perceptions of orientation and gravity, and take on fresh technical challenges. These new paintings engage a perceptual experience in liminality of color, light and shadow continually changing appearances with the time of day, weather, and seasons. As viewers engage with the shifting rhythms of nature—from dawn to dusk, spring to winter—they may sense how the paintings absorb perspectives expanded to encompass Earth’s rotation and orbit, the solar system, and even cosmic time scales.
Francis’s paintings resonate with the post-minimalist tradition and the California Light and Space movement, while also embodying an Eastern spirituality informed by Zen and philosophies of nature. A single, static painting opens up to larger cycles of time and space, resonating with the viewer’s body in profound harmony.
We invite you to join us for an opening reception with the artist on Saturday, September 13.
We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition.
Shingo Francis, Liminal Sphere (blue-emerald), 2025, Oil on canvas, Φ91.5 cm
Shingo Francis, Liminal Sphere (emerald light), 2025, Oil on canvas, Φ51 cm
Shingo Francis
Born 1969 in Santa Monica, California. Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA and Kamakura, Japan. Francis explores the vast space and spirituality of painting through abstract expressions. His blue abstract paintings with multiple layers, and deep monochrome color works, as well as the “Interference” series, which changes color depending on the reflection of light, are his most well-known works. Major exhibitions include DIC Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art,(Chiba, 2012), The Durst Organization (New York, 2013), Ichihara Lakeside Museum, (Chiba, 2017), Sezon Museum of Modern Art, (Nagano, 2018), Martin Museum of Art, (Texas, 2019). GINZA MAISON HERMÈS Le Forum (Tokyo, 2023). His works are in collections including JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, Banco de Espana, Frederick R. Weiseman Art Foundation, Mori Art Collection, Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Chigasaki City Museum of Art, Oketa Collection, Ueshima Collection, Tokyo American Club among others. His public artworks installations include sites such as Andaz Tokyo at Toranomon Hills and BLUE FRONT SHIBAURA.