[ STATUS ] OPEN WINDOW ACTIVE
[ CLOSED ] THURSDAY, 7 pm - EEST
[LIST_60]
Thursday, 7th May, 2026
Meet Fukushi Masaichi, a Japanese pathology professor who preserved tattoo history in the most unusual way.
Born in 1878, Fukushi began studying traditional Japanese irezumi around 1907, fascinated by how tattoo ink behaved within human tissue and its interaction with disease. His focus? Full-body tattoos and the intricate bodysuits that covered people from neck to ankle. But Fukushi didn’t just photograph these masterpieces. He made arrangements with tattooed individuals who agreed to donate their skin after passing away.
Through careful autopsy work, he preserved and stretched the tattooed skin, turning it into a living archive of the art form.
At its peak, his collection included over 3,000 photographs and roughly 2,000 preserved skins.
Tragically, most were lost and some destroyed in 1945 air raids during WWII, others vanished during a trip to Chicago when his suitcase full of specimens disappeared overnight after someone showed interest in acquiring one.
What survived? Around 105 preserved tattoo skins, now housed at the University of Tokyo’s Medical Pathology Museum being one of the rarest collections of Japanese tattoo history in existence.
Photos: Yamato Magazine & Sabukaru Online
Exploring the connection between ancient rituals held within prehistoric caves and the gatherings of modern-day parties inside clubs, these paintings serve as a bridge, uniting the primal spark of controlled fire in caves with the pulsating energy of contemporary nightlife.
I envision caves as the birthplace of communal celebrations, where our ancestors immersed themselves in the flickering dance of light and shadow,
around the fire. Gatherings akin to ancient “parties” forged unity, a collective trip through rhythmic sounds and shared experiences.
Hues of fire mirror the club’s modern spectrum.
My exploration honors the unbroken lineage of human gatherings, celebrating the enduring spirit of collective identity beyond time and space.
The materialization in painting through an obsessive visual dissection led me to an expansion of time, taking place from a few days to months,
until I consumed and got consumed by the process, accessing unconscious visions by reaching an archetype of the dance ritual.
[04] ORTAKU
One of the most active stencil artists in Romania.
"I started with tags and at that time it was important for me to tag everywhere. I cared little about the wall, and was more concerned with avoiding cops and curious people, those who get you in trouble.
Fortunately, tags weren’t my strong point, I realized this and started to do stencils. I liked writing on walls. At first, I used to do stencils as I used to tag. Many were poorly applied, in inappropriate places. It was my rebellious period, and I didn’t understand much back then.
However, I never could abandon my stencils, they were always a part of me, we grew and got better together. Sometimes it’s nice to look back, at those important moments in my life, to see the evolution of my stencils."
Lehmann Maupin is pleased to present The Open Window, an exhibition of new work by the internationally acclaimed twin artists OSGEMEOS—Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo (b. 1974, São Paulo, Brazil). Drawing from hip-hop culture, Brazilian folklore, and urban life, OSEGEMOS create visual worlds that feel both playful and deeply symbolic. Featuring a suite of five new paintings, The Open Window continues to expand OSGEMEOS’ surreal visual language. On view in New York from April 23–June 6, 2026, the exhibition comes on the heels of the artists’ first US museum survey exhibition OSGEMEOS: Endless Story at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Best known for their signature figurative style featuring elongated yellow characters, OSGEMEOS have created a fantastical universe they call “Tritrez.” The new series of paintings on view at Lehmann Maupin expands this iconic world, showcasing their skinny outlines, intricate patterns, and dreamlike compositions. Working at a more intimate scale, OSGEMEOS deepen their narrative approach, crafting layered scenes that oscillate between the surreal and the everyday. In these smaller paintings, their imagery unfolds with heightened precision and material sensitivity, allowing for a more detailed exploration of surface, texture, and compositional nuance. This smaller-scale format offers viewers a closer, more contemplative encounter with the richly imagined worlds they construct.
The Open Window also highlights OSGEMEOS’ enduring connection to music as a central source of inspiration in their practice. Emerging from São Paulo’s hip-hop scene in the 1980s, the twins absorbed the rhythms, improvisational energy, and communal spirit of hip hop culture. Beyond hip-hop, they draw from a broad spectrum of musical traditions, including Brazilian folk, which infuse their imagery with vibrancy and cultural specificity. For OSGEMEOS, music is more than a reference—it functions as a parallel language that shapes their intuitive, improvisatory approach to making. In works such as The Countryside Pianist (2026) and I Love NY (2026), instruments—including retro boomboxes, keyboards, and guitars—take center stage, underscoring their diverse musical influences and conveying a sense that their painted worlds are alive, constantly pulsing with sound.
[5]LOST.OPTICS
Lost.Optics — there could hardly be a more fitting name for an artist who, with calm lucidity and disciplined intent, continually reexamines the stylistic approaches of his time.
Rather than accepting contemporary visual languages as fixed or self-evident, he subjects them to a process of careful observation, selection, and reinterpretation. His practice does not merely reflect the present moment; it questions it, dissects it, and transforms it into a more considered visual statement.
“Lost” also suggests a state of preparation: a necessary pause before action, a moment of suspension in which perception becomes sharper and meaning more precise. It evokes a respectful consideration of established values and a thoughtful reflection on the forms, gestures, and traditions inherited from the past.
In this sense, to be “lost” is not to be without direction, but to remain open—to search without haste, and to resist superficial certainty.
