Asuka Anastacia Ogawa: pedra
Mochi Ceremony with Incense and Tea
In celebration of Asuka Anastacia Ogawa’s exhibition pedra, Blum & Poe is pleased to present a mochi ceremony by mochi Rin. The ceremony pays homage to Ogawa’s paintings currently on view in Los Angeles, and incorporates mochi sweets, matcha green tea, and agarwood incense.
Water drop mochi evokes the earth by incorporating adzuki bean paste, spices, cherry blossoms, and seasonal flowers into a rice cake made with local water. Adzuki beans have been a popular ingredient in Japan since ancient times, and are used in prayer ceremonies for their detoxification effects and ability to ward off evil.
Incense was introduced to Japan from China in the Asuka period (6th century). By the Kamakura period (13th century), Zen Buddhism had spread, and the practice of "listening to fragrance,” in which people faced the wood and appreciated its delicate aroma, was established. The agarwood incense incorporated in this ceremony is the resin secreted from wood when damaged by wind, rain, disease, and insects. It is said that the practice of “listening” to incense activates the brain stem, and can awaken memories.
Five ceremonies will be offered on Saturday, March 11, at 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm. This event is free and open to all. Registration is required to participate in the ceremony, but non-participating visitors are encouraged to view the experience.
Limited parking available. Rideshare highly encouraged.
Click here to register.
Saturday, March 11
Five ceremonies offered at 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm
at Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
About mochi Rin
Mochi chef and Urasenke tea master Fujiko Aoki presides over mochi Rin, a New York- and Tokyo-based company that has been creating seasonal mochi sweets for tea ceremonies and events since 2014.
About Asuka Anastacia Ogawa
Asuka Anastacia Ogawa (b. 1988, Tokyo, Japan) spent much of her childhood in Tokyo, Japan. When she was three years old, Ogawa moved from this vertical urban backdrop to rural Brazil, where she passed a handful of formative early years amongst wandering farm animals and rushing waterfalls. The artist later relocated to Sweden when she was a teen, where she attended high school, and soon thereafter she moved to London to pursue her BFA from Central Saint Martins. After having her first solo show at Henry Taylor’s studio in Los Angeles, CA in 2017, she had a solo show at Blum & Poe, Tokyo in 2020, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles in 2021, and Blum & Poe, New York in 2022. Her work is in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham NC, and X Museum, Beijing, China. She is currently based in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY.