Sakura: A Season of Becoming

Envisioned as an intercultural dialogue between Romania, Japan, and New York, and presented by the Romanian Cultural Institute New York.

Sakura: A Season of Becoming A Transnational Group Exhibition Exploring the Artistic Metaphors of Cherry Blossoming Curated by Kyoko Sato | Luisa Tuntuc Romanian Cultural Institute | Brâncuși Gallery 200 E 38th St, New York, NY 10016 | (212) 687-0180 April 17 – May 15, 2026 | Monday – Thursday 9AM-6PM, Closed on Sat and Sun Opening reception: April 17, 2026, 6-9PM Artists: Daniel Fishkin (USA) | Eva Petrič (Slovenia) | Georgette Sinclair (Romania) | Junko Yoda (Japan) | Kiichiro Adachi (Japan) | Maia Stefana Oprea (Romania) | Mariko Fujimoto (Japan) | Nicole Cohen (USA) | Paul O’Malley (Ireland) | Sophia Chizuko (Japan) | Sorin Scurtulescu (Romania) With a special sound art performance by Daniel Fishkin: 7PM Envisioned as an intercultural dialogue between Romania, Japan, and New York, and presented by the Romanian Cultural Institute New York, the exhibition brings together eleven distinct artistic visions that reflect upon and celebrate the seasonal transformation of nature, embodied in the symbolic blossoming of the cherry tree. Here, sakura —translated from Japanese as “cherry blossom” or “cherry tree”—transcends its botanical meaning to become a powerful social and cultural phenomenon. Native to the Japanese archipelago, cherry trees have long been cultivated and revered, and since the Heian period (794-1185AD), the cherry blossom—together with the chrysanthemum—has come to represent Japan’s cultural and spiritual identity. Each spring, communities gather beneath the flowering trees in a collective gesture of admiration and reflection. In New York in particular, sites such as Roosevelt Island, Central Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Cherry Esplanade, and Sakura Park become seasonal places of pilgrimage—spaces where visitors gather to admire the blossoms, photograph their fleeting beauty, share moments across social media, or simply pause in quiet contemplation. Beyond Japan, cherry blossoms spread across the world through cultural exchange and diplomacy. In the early twentieth century, Japan’s gesture of gifting cherry trees to cities abroad—now widely known as sakura diplomacy —transformed the blossoms into enduring symbols of international friendship and goodwill. Today, they bloom across continents, embraced by diverse cultures while retaining their deep historical roots. Presented from April 17 to May 15, Sakura: A Seasons of Becoming extends the brief season of bloom into a lasting visual meditation. Through painting, photography, video, installation, sound, and textile-based works, the participating artists explore themes of impermanence, memory, and renewal, situating contemporary Romanian creativity within a global artistic dialogue. Through this exhibition, we are reminded that Romanian values are deeply connected to the global dialogue between nature and culture, while its Latin legacy continues to shape a romantic and poetic space where art, memory, and the natural world converge. ARTISTS Daniel Fishkin (USA) is a composer and instrument maker whose work grows from a lifelong investigation into listening, sound, and hearing damage. He studied with Maryanne Amacher and Mark Stewart, and is the only luthier to have studied directly with daxophone inventor Hans Reichel; his research on the aesthetics of tinnitus has received international attention, including coverage in Nature and recognition as a “tinnitus ambassador” by the Deutsche Tinnitus-Stiftung. Fishkin holds an MA from Wesleyan University and a PhD from University of Virginia, and is Assistant Professor of Music Production and Co-Director of the MFA in Creative Music Technology at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Eva Petrič (Slovenia), b. 1987 in Slovenia, lives and works between New York City, Vienna, and Ljubljana, creating multidisciplinary works across photography, video, performance, installation, sound, and writing; in New York, she is represented by Galerie Mourlot - New York. She holds a BA from Webster University Vienna and an MFA from Transart Institute, and has exhibited internationally—from the United Nations Headquarters to St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna—alongside selections for the Beijing International Art Biennale and nominations for the Venice Art Biennale. Georgette Sinclair (Romania), born in Romania and based on Roosevelt Island, New York, is an award-winning pastel artist and a Doctor of Audiology whose work is collected internationally. Trained from an early age at a public School of Art in Romania and later at the Art Students League of New York, she creates luminous landscapes and cityscapes inspired by nature, light, travel, and everyday life. A longtime member of the Salmagundi Club of New York and an active participant in the Roosevelt Island art community, Sinclair’s work transforms ordinary moments into poetic reflections on the enduring beauty of the natural world. Junko Yoda (Japan), b.1943, Tokushima, is a New York–based painter whose layered works combine handmade washi and acrylic, often viewed from an aerial perspective of the earth. Educated at Musashino Art University, she moved to New York in 1969 and developed her signature dripping technique while working on River of Hiroshima for the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan)—an approach shaped by both historical memory and personal resilience after 9/11. She is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, and her works are held in major public collections, including The Essl Collection (Vienna, Austria), the Ohara Museum of Art (Okayama, Japan), and the Takamatsu City Museum of Art (Japan), the Tokushima Modern Art Museum (Japan), among others. Kiichiro Adachi (Japan) b. 1979, is an artist from Osaka, based in Brooklyn, New York, known for immersive light installations that explore the relationship between nature, technology, and perception. Trained in Environmental Design at Tama Art University, he moved to New York in 2016 with support from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Adachi has exhibited widely in Japan and internationally, including at museums and galleries in New York, Tokyo, Seoul, and São Paulo, and his work is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and the Francis J. Greenburger Collection. Maia Stefana Oprea (Romania), b.1987, Bucharest, is a Romanian visual artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, textiles, video-performance, and research-based projects exploring memory, regeneration, and the relationships between human and natural systems. She holds an MFA from the National Arts University in Bucharest and has exhibited widely in Romania and abroad, including solo and group shows that reflect her engagement with abstraction, existential themes, and material experimentation. Mariko Fujimoto (Japan), b.1991 in Tokyo, is a contemporary painter based between New York and Tokyo. A graduate of Tama Art University, her figurative works explore memory, relationships, and psychological distance, hovering between dream and reality. She has exhibited in Japan and the U.S., including In a dream or… (NANJO HOUSE, Tokyo, 2018), and is in the collection of the Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art. Fujimoto has received the Acrylic Gouache Biennale Award (2016) and the FACE 2020 Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Art Award, and participated in residencies including the Beppu Contemporary Art Festival. Nicole Cohen (USA) is an internationally-renowned installation artist who works with video and new media. She received her BA from Hampshire College and her MFA from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Los Angeles County of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, La B.A.N.K Galerie in Paris, France , at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Schloss Britz in Berlin, Germany, American University Museum at Katzen Art Center in Washington D.C., Wave Hill Public Gardens and Cultural Center in the Bronx, and The Museum of the Moving Image. Paul O’Malley (Ireland) is a photographer and writer based in Miami whose work blends abstraction and documentary to explore belonging, solitude, and quiet moments in everyday life. His images have been shown in numerous exhibitions—including the Shizukesa series (Soho Photo Gallery, New York, 2025)—and reflect a layered visual language that captures stillness within bustle. Sophia Chizuko (Japan) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator based in Brooklyn. She holds a B.A. in Art and Education from Tokyo Gakugei University and later studied abstract painting at the Art Students League of New York.Her practice spans painting, community-based art projects, and curatorial work, with exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Belgium, and the Philippines. She has led programs with NYC Health + Hospitals, the NARS Foundation, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Commissioned through the DCLA City Canvas Program in partnership with ArtBridge and Con Edison, she created a 902-foot-long public artwork. She is also a recipient of a Merit Scholarship from the Art Students League of New York. Sorin Scurtulescu (Romania), b. 1979, Timișoara, is known for his exploration of light and urban landscapes, as well as his evocative interpretations of Italian and Romanian scenery. His career spans rigorous academic training, including a PhD in Fine Arts from the University of West Timișoara and fellowships in Venice and Rome. Scurtulescu's artistic journey is marked by solo exhibitions like Italian Paintings and Rome Urban Body, and his contributions to group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale-affiliated Romanian Institute of Culture shows and Expo 2020 Dubai. CURATORS Kyoko Sato (Japan) is a curator based in New York City. She planned major exhibitions such as Ancient Egyptian Queens and Goddesses: Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Tokyo and Kobe (2014), and founded Asian Programming at WhiteBox, NY, curating exhibitions A Colossal World: Japanese Artists and New York 1950s–Present (2018) featuring 55 artists including Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono and Takashi Murakami. In 2023, she launched Japan Contemporaries , a publication spotlighting dynamic Japanese artists. She has served as a visiting critic for the MFA program at the Rhode Island School of Design and as a moderator for a lecture at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Luisa Tuntuc (Romania) is a cultural diplomat, arts manager and visual artist. Since 2018, she is the Deputy Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, where she curates the visual arts program. She holds degrees in Communication and Public Relations, as well as a Master's in Political Communication and Marketing (SNSPA), and Visual Arts – Painting. She has also completed professional training in arts management at NYU. Her artistic practice addresses themes of social justice, gender equality, and inclusive futures. In 2021, she initiated the project to launch the Brâncuși Gallery at RCI New York — the institute's dedicated exhibition space, designed to foster transatlantic dialogue in contemporary visual arts.

What to expect:
Drawing, Installation, Painting, Multi-disciplinary, Prints, Film / Video, Photography, Audio / Sound, Performance / Live Art, Mixed media