Tavares Strachan solo exhibition 'Blue Keys' at Zakkein, Myoshinji Temple, Kyoto

KOTARO NUKAGA is pleased to announce ‘Blue Keys’, a solo exhibition by Tavares Strachan, at Zakkein, Myoshinji Temple in Kyoto, from November 6 through November 19, 2026.

Tavares Strachan（b. 1979, Nassau, Bahamas）, who lives and works between New York and Nassau, pursues an interdisciplinary practice that connects art, history, science, and cultural critique to bring overlooked histories and people into view.

‘Blue Keys’ begins with the artist’s childhood memory of watching his grandmother solve word searches, finding language hidden within fields of letters. In the five Gemini paintings, letters become language, image, and code, moving between legibility and abstraction while recalling W.E.B. Du Bois’s idea of double consciousness. Repetition and variation connect the works to jazz and the blues, while a self-playing balafon extends this language into sound. Presented in Kyoto, ‘Blue Keys’ brings looking and listening together, inviting viewers to search slowly for words, rhythms, histories, and memory.

 

【EXHIBITION DETAILS】
Artist: Tavares Strachan
Title: ‘Blue Keys’
Period: November 6 – November 19, 2026
Hours: 9:00 – 16:00
Venue: Zakkein, Myoshinji Temple
Address: 55 Hanazono Myoshinji-cho, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto 616-8035, Japan
Admission: Free

Opening Reception: November 7, 2026, 13:00 – 15:00
*By invitation only

【Photo Credit】
Tavares Strachan, Blacks and Blues No. 1, 2026, pigment, acrylic paint, pulp on panel, 61 x 61 cm
Courtesy of the artist
Photo by Miho Suzuki