By using art to reflect on personal history and experience, the artists on view this week present deeply intimate series that play with the idea of the self in a greater world. In Tokyo, SCAI The Bathhouse/Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc. presents a series of paintings by Miwa Ogasawara, inspired by the March 2011 earthquake in Japan. At ClampArt in Chelsea, NY, Joshua Lutz uses photography to explore his own struggle with mental illness, set against the background of his family life. The beautifully rendered works in each series invite the viewer’s own reflection, creating a universal quality within a uniquely personal study.

SCAI The Bathhouse/Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc. in Tokyo presents a solo exhibition by painter Miwa Ogasawara (Japanese, b.1973). The show is a series of tranquil scenes that imbue a dream-like, spiritual viewing experience. Ogasawara’s focus lies in the inner-workings of the mind present in a physical space, or the outside world. Through the use of techniques of light and shadow, crisp lines, and blurred shapes, the artist sets her figures in windows or framed curtains, suggesting a portal to personal thought that lives in the larger universe, the “grand narrative”¹ of life. The works in this series are particularly inspired by the March 2011 earthquake in Japan and the nuclear power plant crisis that occurred as a result of the earthquake. Ogasawara moved from Japan to Germany at a young age, and so her childhood experience, and her “inner narrative,”² was shaken by this disaster, which forced her to reflect on her own history within the greater scheme of life.

Miwa Ogasawara, “beyond silence” will be on view from April 11 to May 18, 2013, at 6-1-23 Yanaka, Taito-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Miwa Ogasawara, Abandon 2, 2012, SCAI The Bathhouse/Shiraishi Contemporary Art Inc., Tokyo, Japan

ClampArt in Chelsea, NY, presents its second solo exhibition by photographer Joshua Lutz (American, b.1975), entitled Hesitating Beauty. In this deeply personal series, Lutz plays with the traditional conception of photography, using diverse media to represent the struggle faced by himself and his family in coming to terms with mental illness. In his effort to overcome depression and schizophrenia from an early age, the photographer was unable to relate his own personal difficulties to those that afflicted his mother. Creating the series presented in Hesitating Beauty was a sort of cathartic practice, allowing Lutz to understand the root of his personal experience, and its connection to his mother’s own struggles. The photographer said, “I tried to imagine a time when the past, present and future collided; a place where the weight of memory is heavier than reality.”³ The result is a brilliantly depicted series, which serves as a contemplative study and unique portrait of family life.

Joshua Lutz: Hesitating Beauty will be on view from April 11 to May 18, 2013, at 521-531 W. 25th Street, New York, NY.

Joshua Lutz, The Coming Insurrection, 2012, ClampArt, New York, NY

Browse openings by city to see where art can be found in your town!

Athens, Greece
Lari Pittman at Bernier/Eliades Gallery
April 11–May 25, 2013
11 Eptachalkou Street, 11851 Athens, Greece

Beirut, Lebanon
Lamia Joreige, Records for Uncertain Times at Art Factum Gallery
April 11–May 30, 2013
P.O. Box 166271, Rehban streetbldg 13, Medawar district, Quarantine, Beirut, Lebanon
Ginane Makki Bacho “Afterimage” at Ayyam Gallery
April 11–May 31, 2013
Beirut Tower, Ground Floor, Zeitoune Street

Hong Kong, China
Pan Jian, “The Realm of Shadows” at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery – Katie de Tilly Contemporary Artists
April 11–May 11, 2013
G/F 10 Chancery Lane, SoHo, Central, Hong Kong, China
Disjecta Membra, Barbara Wildenboer at Amelia Johnson Contemporary
April 11–May 11, 2013
g/f 6-10 Shin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong, China

London, UK
Peter Halley: Paintings 2012–2013 at Waddington Custot Galleries
April 11–May 3, 2013
11 Cork Street, London, W1S 3LT United Kingdom

Los Angeles, CA
Jennifer Pastor: Endless Arena at Regen Projects
April 11–May 11, 2013
6750 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Munich, Germany
Toni Stadler: 1888 – 1982. Skulpturen und Aquarelle at Galerie Biedermann
April 11, 2013
Barer Straße 44, Rückgebäude, 80799 Munich, Germany
Hans Matthäus Bachmayer 1940 – 2013: Zum Abschied at Galerie van de Loo Projekte
April 11–20, 2013
Gabelsbergerstr. 19, 80333 Munich, Germany

New York, NY
Cityscapes at Flowers
April 11–May 11, 2013
529 W. 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
Tallur L.N., New Yorked at Jack Shainman Gallery
April 11–May 11, 2013
513 W. 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
Hanna Darboven: A Survey at Leo Castelli
April 11–May 24, 2013
18 E. 77th Street, New York, NY 10075
Simon Hantaï: Go Figure / Ground at Paul Rodgers 9W
April 11, 2013
529 W. 20th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011
Kathy Ruttenberg: Nature of the Beast at Stux Gallery
April 11–May 18, 2013
530 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
Golnaz Fathi at Sundaram Tagore Gallery
April 11–May 11, 2013
547 W. 27th Street, New York, NY 10001

Nurnberg, Germany
Paul Jacobsen at Galerie VON & VON
April 11–June 15, 2013
Lorenzerstrasse 31, 90402 Nurnberg, Germany

Yountville, CA
AWAKEN at Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley
April 11–May 9, 2013
6711 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 24599

Zurich, Switzerland
Schweizer Avantgarde Kunst nach 1940 & Richard Serra: Large Scale Etchings 1986 – 1987 (Kabinett) at Fabian und Claude Walter Galerie
April 11–May 25, 2013
Rämistrasse 18, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland