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Izumi Kato’s solo exhibition at Perrotin in New York brings together paintings and sculptures featuring enigmatic humanlike figures, marine life and shifting aquatic environments. The exhibition opens October 29, 2026, and runs through December 19; the source does not provide a full visitor schedule or confirm whether the dates refer to a particular Perrotin gallery location.
Izumi Kato’s new solo exhibition at Perrotin opens in New York on October 29, bringing paintings and sculptures together in a dreamlike world of totemic human figures, marine animals and shifting aquatic scenes. The exhibition is scheduled to continue through December 19, 2026, presenting works that extend the Tokyo- and Hong Kong-based artist’s practice across canvas, wood, soft vinyl and cast metal.
The exhibition combines two-dimensional paintings with three-dimensional works, using recurring images of figures that seem to appear, disappear or change form. In Kato’s paintings, stones appear to float, bodies vanish into water and human feet become fish tails. The source report describes a spatial approach that flattens and compartmentalizes some scenes while stretching others, creating a setting where ordinary distinctions between body, landscape and aquatic life blur.
Kato has long painted what he calls hitogata, a Japanese term that literally means “dolls,” according to the report. These humanoid figures can emerge from stacked, totem-like canvases. Their eyes resemble small pools, while their noses and mouths can merge into indistinct forms. Some figures have limbs or torsos that appear amphibious or dissolve into waterlike reflections. The works are untitled; examples listed in the report include oil paintings from 2026 and sculptures made with materials including wood, acrylic, plastic, silicone, stainless steel and urethane-painted aluminum.
The sculptures extend the artist’s painting approach into different materials. The report says Kato paints small wooden figures as he would a flat surface, while forms that look like stones are made from lightweight cast aluminum. Some are suspended from the ceiling, creating an effect that plays with viewers’ expectations of weight. Marine imagery recurs throughout the exhibition, including coral, jellyfish and a shark in scenes that suggest views both above and below the water. One wooden sculpture on a two-rod stand resembles an aquatic trophy or fishing lure, with a small rider perched on it.
Kato’s Figures Cross Materials
The exhibition brings together approaches Kato has developed across painting and sculpture, making the relationship between image and object a central part of the presentation. Rather than treating the sculptures as separate from his painted world, the report describes them as emerging from a similar approach to form and surface. The result invites visitors to compare how the same kinds of ambiguous figures and transformations work on a canvas and in physical space.
The aquatic imagery also gives the exhibition a recurring point of connection between human bodies and the natural world. Kato’s longtime interest in fishing informs the appearance of marine creatures and fishing-related forms, according to the report. The significance of those motifs remains open to interpretation: the figures’ expressions are described as inscrutable, and the exhibition does not assign them a single emotional state or narrative. That ambiguity is part of what makes the show relevant to viewers interested in how contemporary art uses familiar forms to unsettle boundaries between people, animals and their surroundings.
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From Hitogata to Marine Forms
Kato is based in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and his practice has grown from painting to include wood forms, soft vinyl sculpture and cast metal. The source report connects his stacked, humanoid figures to the surrealist technique known as cadavre exquis, or exquisite corpse, in which separate elements are combined into unexpected forms. In Kato’s work, the figures’ features and bodies can likewise seem assembled, merged or transformed.
The exhibition’s marine references build on the artist’s longstanding love of fishing, as described in the report. Rather than presenting a straightforward account of underwater life, the works combine humanlike figures with sea creatures and shifting views of pelagic ecosystems. Perrotin’s presentation is identified as an eponymous solo exhibition. The available source lists selected works and their materials and dimensions, but does not supply a full exhibition checklist or details of public programming.
Details Still Not Published
The available report gives the exhibition’s opening and closing dates but does not specify daily visiting hours, admission arrangements, or the precise Perrotin venue within New York. It also does not describe the complete selection of works or say whether the listed examples represent the full exhibition. The report characterizes the figures as enigmatic and their emotional states as unclear; it does not establish a single narrative linking the paintings and sculptures.
Interpretations of the works’ symbolism should be treated as readings rather than confirmed artist statements. The source describes Kato’s fishing interest and the recurring marine imagery, but does not include a direct comment from Kato explaining the meaning of individual figures, materials or scenes.
Exhibition Runs Through December
The exhibition is scheduled to open at Perrotin on October 29, 2026, and remain on view through December 19. Visitors seeking practical information will need to check Perrotin’s current listing for the exact gallery location, opening hours, access arrangements and any related events. Further details about the complete work list or exhibition programming were not included in the source report.
Key Questions
When does Izumi Kato’s exhibition open and close?
The Perrotin solo exhibition is scheduled to open on October 29, 2026, and continue through December 19, 2026.
What kinds of works are in the exhibition?
The presentation brings together oil paintings and sculptures. The works listed in the source use materials including canvas, wood, acrylic, plastic, silicone, stainless steel and urethane-painted aluminum.
What does hitogata mean in relation to Kato’s work?
The source report says Kato uses the term hitogata for his humanoid figures; the Japanese word literally means “dolls.”
Where can visitors find practical information?
The source identifies the exhibition as taking place at Perrotin in New York, but does not provide a specific gallery address, hours or admission details. Check Perrotin’s current exhibition information before visiting.
Source: thisiscolossal.com
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