Gallery Trax started in 1993, at the foot of Yatsugatake in Hokuto City, Yamanashi. Founded by interior designer Jiro Kimura and designer Etsuko Miyoshi, this building used to be a nursery of a closed town school on the grounds of Shounji Temple. It was renovated by Kimura himself, and furniture and objects he created composed the space. Trax is distinctive not only for its location or atmosphere, but also for being an exhibition space for artists such as Jun Tsunoda, Tomoo Gokita, Katsumi Omori, Rinko Kawauchi, Yayoi Deki, and others since their early career. With the wind blowing through and light shining in, the gallery is not a so-called White Cube. The room and the works seem to breathe here; the space itself is a work of art which has embraced numerous art pieces over the years. Since Kimura passed away in 2004, Miyoshi has maintained the place as a gallery, and the number of visitors to Trax, a place where the spirit of Kimura still resides, sees no end.

After moving to Yatsugatake, the time Kimura spent creating furniture from used construction wood was merely 11 years—from the start of Trax to his passing—yet he produced a multitude of aspiring furniture and objects in that short period of time. On the other hand, his architectural involvement, including Starnet in Mashiko, are rather unrecognized despite the remaining unique buildings. This publication is a summary of the immense amount of photographs and documentation of his furniture, objects, and space-making centered around Trax that Kimura had left behind. Most of the included pictures were taken at Trax, as a space in itself. In addition to text written by Kyohei Sakaguchi, Elein Fleiss, and Tohru Matsushita (SIDE CORE), all of whom are associated with Trax, the book also includes sketches and drawings by Kimura, as well as photographs of the garden and Jomon culture that served as inspiration. Even twenty years after his death, many of Kimura’s works remain timeless, preserved mainly in Trax. This book is a study of Jiro Kimura’s creative journey with Trax, as a gallery and a piece of art.

　
Related exhibition

ReConstruction  Jiro Kimura and Gallery Trax

December 2−24, 2023

Gallery Trax

Size: 300 x 230 mm / Hard cover / 144P

Texts: Kyohei Sakaguchi, Elein Fleiss, Tohru Matsushita

Title lettering: Jun Tsunoda

Supervisor: Etsuko Miyoshi

Design: Noriteru Minezaki, Kosuke Shono ((STUDIO))

Photograaphs: Katsumi Omori, Keigo Saito, Masayuki Shioda, Tatsuyasu Watanabe, Jiro Kimura and others

Languages: Japanese / English
Price: 4,500 yen

Publisher: torch press

ISBN: 978-4-907562-45-8 C0052

Year: 2023

Jiro Kimura

Born in Osaka in 1947. After working as an interior designer in Osaka, he began living in a 130-year-old farmhouse at the southern foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains (Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture). 1993, he started Gallery Trax with Etsuko Miyoshi. Since then, he has been working on original artworks, presenting objects, furniture, spatial design, and videos. Their unprecedentedly skillful and modern furniture created from materials such as old lumber, beams, and farm tools from abandoned houses in the neighborhood has attracted much attention. He has worked at Gallery Burari, Restaurant Daimin (Yamanashi), Starnet (Mashiko), and others. His solo exhibitions include OZON (2000), JM Gallery (1995, 1999, 2000, 2004), etc. He passed away in February 2004. In 2009, “Jiro Kimura Retrospective” was held at the Hokuto City Sudama Historical Museum, and “Jiro Kimura by Katsumi Omori” was published by Match and Company.