Miwa Komatsu's European Debut at MUSEC Lugano: A Review

The Museo delle Culture (MUSEC) in Lugano, Switzerland, is hosting 'Beyond the Eyes', the first European solo exhibition of Japanese artist Miwa Komatsu, on view until October 25, 2026. The show, curated by Nora Segreto, features around thirty paintings and sculptures created between 2012 and 2026, some made specifically for this occasion. Komatsu, born in 1984 in Nagano Prefecture, studied printmaking at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo. Her work is characterized by a meditative, semi-trance state in which she paints without preparatory sketches, channeling creatures from Japanese mythology and folklore such as guardian dogs, wolves, dragons, and hybrid beings. These figures are always depicted frontally, with large, intense eyes that confront the viewer, reversing the traditional power dynamic of looking. The exhibition also includes other shows at MUSEC: 'Trame' on Indonesian textile craftsmanship on the ground floor, and a selection of Japanese prints from the 18th and 19th centuries on the first floor. Komatsu's use of unnaturalistic colors—incandescent reds, acid greens, electric blues—further enhances the sense of otherness. The review, written by Aldo Premoli, highlights how Komatsu's work re-activates ancient symbolic structures without reducing them to folkloric references, offering a transformative gaze that challenges Western notions of visual control.