14 years into Kaikai Kiki Gallery's @kaikaikikigallery operation, I am at the moment profoundly contemplating what its mission must be. Of course, since it’s a gallery, a for-profit business, our priority first and foremost is to offer an attractive selection of artists and works that our customers would want to purchase. I believe, however, that it is also one of our missions to produce and present something that speaks to the raison d’être of art in society, which is difficult to convey in museums and public community settings. Hideki Maekawa’s @lolocaloharmatan @hideki.maekawa_wamono exhibition, while also having such social significance, is an experiment to test out and see what kind of chemical reactions would occur when a genius sculptor, Maekawa, is put to work based on a certain hypothesis. What I had asked him to explore for this show was the creation of new gods from a reality-oriented perspective as evidenced in defeated post-war Japan's religious art of Shintoism, Buddhism, and indigenous beliefs, in particular sculptural art. According to Maekawa, it has been six years since he started his research, and he spent three years producing the actual works. In the end, he has singlehandedly created this exhibition. None of the works presented in this show are meant for sales. Rather, I would like him to do another show or two under the same theme and, only then, would like to summarize his potential artistic views on the theme of Japanese Shinto gods and Buddha, and showcase them in a large venue. I hope we might offer the view of religion and religious art held by the Japanese people, who have lost confidence in the aftermath of not only the chaos following the defeat in World War II but also the subsequent collapse of the bubble economy and the more recent earthquake disaster. This, then, is the first phase of such an undertaking, the first chapter, as it were, of a big story. I hope you will come by to see his work in person.