KLAS ERNFLO, HIROKI KAWANABE

The work of these two artists resides at the threshold between the intimate and the contemplative, where the everyday becomes the protagonist. Although their practices differ in medium and approach, they converge in a shared attitude of deep listening toward the act of creation: a precise attention to the details of daily life, to the silent gestures that shape the texture of reality.

Hiroki Kawanabe views this reality as essentially transitory. Following the path of Zen philosophy, haiku poetry, and the principle of ichi-go ichi-e, he sees life as a flowing stream, always in perpetual motion. Thus, Hiroki paints everyday scenes from his urban surroundings—two friends quietly watching the river, the suspended gesture of two umbrellas on a rainy afternoon—with a loose and dynamic yet calm brushstroke. For him, art captures the world in its flow, as if taking a photo without looking through the viewfinder. “I’m not the one who chooses; it’s the painting that decides,” he says. In his compositions, each stroke seems to hold a suspended moment in full transition, on the verge of changing form.

In Klas Ernflo’s paintings, reality presents itself with defined contours, as if outlining the essence of the landscapes and objects around him. He begins with drawings inspired by common scenes or references from naïve and folk art, which he then transforms through layers of ink and oil, seeking a precise palette and a quiet depth. Klas contemplates the world from an elevated perspective, like that of a bird, where everything takes on a global dimension. His recent works depict landscapes populated by houses that seem drawn from a fairytale: “It’s an imaginary world; I very rarely paint from photographs (though it happens, but not often). In general, my images come from within, from memories. I see a ‘welcoming solitude’ in the landscapes, with a clear path leading to the houses,” the artist shares. In his case, the images rest in a state of calm and silence.

“Hidden in Plain Sight” is an invitation to look again. To pause before what has always been there, waiting to be seen with different eyes. In the silent intersection between their works, Hiroki Kawanabe and Klas Ernflo remind us that sometimes, the essential goes unnoticed in plain view.