17 calligraphies
by
Hiroshi Wada
Under the patronage of the Embassy of Japan in Switzerland
November 2025 - February 2025
“What we see is always the shadow of what we do not see.”
Pierre Reverdy
Between Breath, Silence, and Ink
La Galerie Philosophique presents, for the first time in Switzerland, the work of Japanese calligrapher Hiroshi Wada — an exhibition simply entitled 17 Calligraphies, gathering seventeen of the artist’s recent creations.
Beneath the apparent simplicity of black on white unfolds a world vibrating with invisible forces: those of breath, gesture, and emptiness.
Each calligraphy is a captured instant of life — a heartbeat between two silences, a trace of energy born from movement.
In Wada’s work, ink does not fix — it breathes.
His strokes, sometimes vertiginously pure, sometimes almost earthy, reveal an inner tension between the visible and the invisible, between the tangible world and the vibration of ki — vital energy.
Three Haikus, Three Spaces
The 17 calligraphies on display inspired poet and haiku master Masumi Mizoguchi, who composed three original haikus from the titles of the works.
Each haiku, structured in the traditional 5-7-5 rhythm, gave birth to a distinct space designed by curator and scenographer Jorge Cañete as a meditative journey.
The viewer thus travels from winter to spring, from the stillness of the crow to the light of dreams — a poetic passage where ink becomes breath, and contemplation becomes dialogue.
I. 風雪や 烏動かず 月明かり
Wind and snow —
the crow does not move,
moonlight.
(Calligraphies: Wind-12, Snow-01, Crow, Motion_07, Bright-02)
A space of suspended calm, where time seems to stand still.
The deep black of the crow contrasts with the whiteness of snow — a meditation on stillness and light.
II. 心無き 時こそ花の 生きる道
Time without heart, yet —
the way of life is revealed
through a fleeting flower.
(Calligraphies: Heart-08, Zero-02, Time-01, Flower-14, To be born-01, Way_11)
A breath of renewal: emptiness becomes promise.
The brief bloom of a flower embodies the persistence of life, even within the void.
III. 春の雨 光は幻 夢うつつ
Spring rain —
light is illusion,
between dream and truth.
(Calligraphies: Spring_01, Rain_7, Shine, Illusion_02, Dream_08)
A celebration of transience.
Rain and light merge into a waking dream where all things dissolve and are reborn.
Hiroshi Wada
Based in Kyoto, Hiroshi Wada (和田浩志) belongs to a lineage of Japanese calligraphers who perceive the brushstroke not as a sign, but as a breath.
Trained in calligraphy from early childhood, he developed a contemporary practice that converses with Zen philosophy and the aesthetics of wabi-sabi.
His work has been exhibited in Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Europe.
Through the repetition of gesture, Wada seeks to attain a form of transparency:
“The brush writes the breath before the words.”