The artist Tabaimo (b. 1975, Hyogo, Japan) depicts what might exist beneath calm surfaces—her active imagination proposes a fantastic world full of activity that challenges our understanding of reality.

Whether roaming through the activities of a bathhouse, diving into the contents of a purse, watching a housewife make dinner, or making greenery bloom from beneath a figure’s skin, the artist gives surreal life to banal occurrences, often incorporating into these contemporary tableaux allegorical imagery from Japanese art traditions like woodcuts.

For the Hammer Museum’s lobby wall, Tabaimo premieres a new installation that incorporates large-scale drawings and video.