AICON Solo Show - Oxygen Levels

AICON
Oxygen Levels
09/2025 - 10/2025

The Fridge
11E 78th Street, 4th Floor
Tue - Sat 1pm to 5pm

The Fridge is extremely pleased to present Oxygen Levels, a new body of work and our first solo exhibition by Japanese artist Aicon. Born in Kobe, Aicon studied Western Painting at Kyoto Seika University. Her artistic creations are immediately recognizable for their striking black line aesthetic and neo-minimal style. Drawing inspiration from classical portraiture, she distills these traditional forms to their very essence, creating works that are at once refined and bold. In her practice, Aicon explores three distinct dimensions. The first is the line itself. The second emerges through subtle variations in thickness and spacing, creating a rhythmic interplay across the surface. The third dimension appears when the viewer steps back, allowing the composition to coalesce into a complete image. This seamless flow between dimensions draws the viewer deeply into her work. 

Aicon’s approach places her in continuity with the great Japanese Post-War Abstract painters, who sought to merge traditional aesthetics with modern abstraction. Her work similarly emphasizes the relationship between form, space, and perception, while bringing a contemporary sensibility that is uniquely her own. Through her signature stripe patterns, Aicon seeks to express the human figure as pure substance, stripped of narrative or judgment. Her work revisits visual art’s role in perception, offering a pure state of observation rather than commentary. By removing all superficial decoration, she creates a sense of clarity and quiet resolve within today’s overcrowded and visually saturated landscape.