Lintalow Hashiguchi (1985 - )
Artist / Calligrapher / Wlighter (his coined word "write"+"lighter")
Born in 1985, the artist began practicing calligraphy in 2004. Their work is rooted in the raw energy of punk rock, the radical spirit of Japan’s post‑war avant‑garde movements, and calligrapher Inoue Yuichi’s conviction that “calligraphy is an art for everyone.” Jotting down flashes of language in a notebook each day, they started around 2016 to write short English phrases and invented words that read like song titles.
They regard the Roman alphabet as “something that, once broken into phonemes, dissolves in the moment of utterance,” so the letters collide and coalesce into dense masses. Behind this collision, however, breathes a distinctly Japanese sense of spatiality and of language itself. Their production style—painting with a towel in a single, explosive gesture—recalls the immediacy of punk. Confronted with characters that seem to leap out from paint‑soaked towels, the artist arrived at the idea of “letters as living creatures born of pigment.”
Focusing on the power of written signs to spark human exchange across time, they approach calligraphy from the perspective of “marks and humankind.”
2008
First solo exhibition “Passion never dies” at IAF shop in Fukuoka (since held annually)
2009
Graduated from University of Teacher Education Fukuoka, specializing in Japanese Calligraphy, Training Program for Secondary School Teachers, Faculty of Education
2010
Exhibition with Kuniyoshi Ixima (art collective: Nangar land) “That’s the end.” at Fukuoka-Tenjin Parkside Gallery in Fukuoka
2013
“Record—after that” at Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art
2015
7th Tensakukai Exhibition (“Liberation of Calligraphy” dedicated to Yuichi Inoue) at Mitaka City Arts Center in Tokyo
2016
“Calligraffiti Asia in Japan” at THE blank GALLERY in Tokyo
2017
“Calligraphy for the Future” at ITOCHU AOYAMA ART SQUARE in Tokyo
“Calligraffiti Asia Vol.2 The Juxtaposition” linked exhibition in 3 Asian cities
8th Tensakukai Exhibition (“Liberation of Calligraphy” dedicated to Yuichi Inoue) at Mitaka City Arts Center in Tokyo
“Future Calligraphy” edited by Hisashi Yamamoto, produced by Tatsumi Sato, published by YKG Publishing
2018
“ART SHODO TOKYO SPRING 2018”, Mitaka City Arts Center in Tokyo
“ART SHODO TOKYO AUTUMN 2018”, Mitaka City Arts Center in Tokyo
2019
“Contemporary Calligraphy ART SHODO Traces of Three Artists” at Gallery NAO MASAKI, in Nagoya, Aichi
Art Fair Tokyo 2019
“ALIVE”Lintalow Hashiguchi & Sadaharu Horio (Gutai) at Gallery NAO MASAKI, in Nagoya, Aichi
LUMINE meets ART AWARD 2018-2019
Shell art award 2019.
2020
selected artist “ARTISTS’FAIR KYOTO 2020”
“What's SHODO?”, MARUEIDO JAPAN, tokyo
“ART SHODO FESTA 2020”, Mitaka city art center, Tokyo
“Kyusyu New Art”, hakata hankyu, Fukuoka
“Tama see nation”, PARADISE ,Nagasaki
2021
Brussel Art Fair “BRAFA in the Gallery”, Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya
“PAPER DRUG”, Gallery NAO MASAKI, Nagoya
“DYNAMITE SHODO”, IAF shop*,Fukuoka
“The new perspective of the calligraphy 2”, Fukuya, Hiroshima
“SHODO NEW AGE”, MEDIA SHOP GALLERY, Kyoto
“ART SHODO FESTA in FUKUOKA”, Fukuoka Asia museum, Fukuoka
“Icon and human”, Iwataya, Fukuoka
“Nana-land empire”, art space tetra, Fukuoka
“Flying object investigation team”, PARADISE,Nagasaki
2022
Art Fair Tokyo 2022
"異物へ／into the Foreign Matter", NACC, Tokyo
Group show"ART SHODO Hankyu #2", Hiroshima
Group show"ART SHODO NEXT ", Mitaka city art center, Tokyo
Group show"JAPAN SHODO SHOW 2022", Meguro museum of art, civic hall, Tokyo
Group show"ART SHODO", Gallery NOW, Toyama
Group show"Horoshima contemporary art salon 2022", Hiroshima
Group show"Current Sho", Taguchi Art Gallery, Kyoto
Group show"ART SHODO SELECTION in Kyoto", MEDIA SHOP GALLERY, Kyoto
LMAA10th anniversaly exhibition"LUMINE meets ART AWARD Archive Exhibition", Tokyo
Group show"ART SHODO EDGE2022", MEDIA SHOP GALLERY, Kyoto
Group show"KUROBIKARI 黒光り", THE SHOP HOUSE, Hongkong
2023
Group show"MATSUBA Collection", MARUEIDO JAPAN, Tokyo
Solo exhibition "so many life, so many death", Shibuya PARCO
Group show "Hiroshima contenporary art salon" , Fukuya, Hiroshima
"GRAM FORCE", YUKIKO MIZUTANI, Tokyo
"AWAHI" , VAGUE Alres, Alres, Frace
Group show "New Horizon" , Arts Maebashi, Gunma
"Calligraphy strayed from the beaten track", ICHION CONTEMPORARY, Osaka
2024
Exhibition at "Art Fair Tokyo 2024" Group Exhibition at Koganecho Bazaar
"The World Is Not Made of Art" , Around Koganecho Station, Tokyo Group Exhibition
"ALIVE: GUTAI, Postwar avant-garde art movement and modern punk SHODO" , L'ATLAS Paris, France
Group Exhibition "move-sound-image" , ground seoul, Korea
Exhibition at "ASIA NOW 2024" , Paris, France
"Osaka Kansai International Art Festival"(Exhibited at EXPO 2025 Osaka), Osaka, Japan
<Publication>
"ミライショドウ Mirai Shodo" Hisashi Yamamoto etc, YKG Publishing
"so many life, so many death"PARCO
<Commision work>
2023 AZABU, AZABUDAI hills, Tokyo
At Gallery NAO MASAKI
<Exhibition>
2019
vol.117 Contemporary Calligraphy ARTSHODO Three Trails
vol.121 ALIVE The art of living
2021
vol.132 PAPER DRUG
<Award>
LUMINE meets ART AWARD 2018-2019 Grand Prix
Shell Art Prize 2019 Honorary Mention
<Collection>
Smiles (the company of Soup Stock Tokyo), Lumine Tokyo, notable art collectors etc.