Ellen Akimoto’s latest solo exhibition at Galerie Judin in Berlin, “Everybody’s in the Room,” presents her most ambitious work to date—both in scale and theme, per artnet.com. The California-born and Leipzig-based artist blurs reality and abstraction in her largest and most conceptually layered solo show yet.
She explores the blurry boundary between reality and illusion, interior and exterior, figuration and abstraction, drawing viewers into a world that questions what we assume to be true.
Akimoto (b. 1988) is known for her unique fusion of figuration and abstraction. Her work in this exhibition—her second solo with Galerie Judin—reflects a culmination of themes she has explored in recent years: social interactions, emotional ambiguity, and the subconscious systems that structure everyday life. These elements coalesce in the show’s centerpiece, a monumental six-panel painting that spans nearly 40 feet and uses the gallery architecture as part of the composition itself.
Thematically, the exhibition plays with contrasts—“inside and outside,” the seen and unseen, the real and the ghostly. “These ghosts aren’t just spirits,” Akimoto explains, “they’re the residue of everyday objects, the echoes of routine and subconscious perception.”
Akimoto’s fascination with the tension between believability and disruption drives much of her visual language. She creates detailed, almost believable environments, only to shatter the illusion with stylistic ruptures or abstract forms that dissolve into ambiguity. “We live by assumptions,” she says. “But when those assumptions break down, we enter a state of wakeful uncertainty—and that’s where I want my art to live.”
The titular work took nearly a year to complete—four months of planning and eight months of intensive painting. Its spatial logic reflects the exhibition’s conceptual core: a tightly ordered interior gradually gives way to open panels and empty landscapes, symbolizing a collapse of structured meaning into chaotic, even liberating, possibility.
Akimoto hopes viewers leave with a sense of openness—a willingness to sit with contradiction and embrace the unknown. “I want to spark a mood where uncertainty feels creative, not paralyzing,” she says.
As for what’s next, the artist is continuing to chase unresolved ideas born mid-process in her current paintings. She also teases a long-anticipated piece inspired by philosopher John Searle’s “Chinese Room” thought experiment—a concept she’s been drawn to for years but hasn’t yet translated into paint.
“Ellen Akimoto: Everybody’s in the Room” is on view at Galerie Judin, Berlin, through August 24, 2025. The exhibition will travel to Kunstverein Ulm in September.
•Featured image: Ellen Akimoto/Agata Storer/Courtesy of Galerie Judin, Berlin
