Open Window

Lola Gil, Double Pane, 2025, Oil and Acrylic on Linen, 120 x 100 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and AISHO.

 

AISHO Tokyo is honoured to announce Lola Gil’s first solo exhibition in Japan. Titled “Open Window“, will be on view from 27 Jun – 26 Jul 2025.

Drawing inspiration from Surrealist masters, Gil has developed her distinctive artistic practice through self-study. Her sophisticated works blend Surrealism and Symbolism, creating what she describes as “Narrative Escapism” — dreamlike narrative that invite viewers to journey through her visual world.

Gil’s figures are often viewed through transparent objects, with the resulting distortions reflecting the complexity of humankind. In her compositions, background faces appear frozen, their gazes emphasized, while their glass reflections create intriguing transformations. The core of Gil’s work explores understanding — most of her subjects are seeking for a answer. The glass elements in her work invite viewers to explore emotional depths and reconsider their relationships with others. The deliberate ambiguity present throughout her work permits audience to sometimes see themselves or simply to escape into the tranquil world of Gil’s imagination.

Following her solo show “Friends and Neighbours” in 2022 — inspired by her new neighbourhood in Philadelphia — in this exhibition, Gil opens the window of her heart, and invites the audiences to look through the window, experiencing the anxiety deep down in the artist’s heart.

“Open Window in its simplicity is a metaphor for looking inside. An informal invitation to walk up closer and peek in. While typically my works have largely been created under the guise of escaping, I’m finding that it’s awfully exhausting to always feel like you’re running away.

As I stand staring into the depths of my own internal window, more than ever before in my career I take great notice of my dualities within. The mother/painter. I have been splitting much of my “awake mind” toward listening and providing comfort to my children ( young adults ) who are in a constant state of fear that their father might die. He’s stage 4 cancer, and only 49. He has had a few close calls recently, so we now live within a new mind state. Constant anxiety.

This experience has set in motion a flood of information to sift through. Within the subconscious mind, the window feels almost brutally open, revealing a constant flurry of quick moving yet faint imagery. As quickly and honestly as I can, I gather what information is being shared and let it unfold on the canvas to the best to my ability.

There are 6 new works in this series. Within them I feel a strong pull towards the allowance for rest. To surrender under exhaustion and to embrace absolute pause. The viewer has the chance to look directly through the window, I invite them to see the artist who bares weight, takes great care, and continues to grow over, around and through. I want the viewer to consider self reflection, and to see there is strength in resting and regenerating yourself.” — Lola Gil, 2025.

 

Lola Gil, Sleep Dream, 2025, Oil and Acrylic on Linen, 75 x 120 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and AISHO.

 

Lola Gil, Realm Of The Open Space, 2025, Oil and Acrylic on Linen, 100 x 120 cm. Courtesy of the Artist and AISHO.

 

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