Charlie James Gallery is proud to extend an invitation to Maya Fuji’s Open Studio at the Headlands Center for the Arts this Sunday, March 15th from 12-4pm. 

Maya’s studio will preview works from her series Slice of Life, created for her solo presentation with the gallery at EXPO Chicago 2026 this April. The fair takes place April 9–12, 2026 and Maya and the gallery will be located in Booth 317.

This body of work is named after a genre of manga that became popular in the mid-2000s and is characterized by its calm depiction of the daily lives of young female characters. The focus is often on the characters' personalities and shifts in their lives. Popular for its relaxed, slow-paced depiction of life that gives a sense of healing and empathy, Fuji wants this new body of work to promote a sense of ease that can be found in everyday interactions. With every day seeming like an onslaught of terrible news and political turmoil, these paintings were made with the specific intention for a viewer to feel uplifted at the end of each day. Fuji hopes these series of paintings inspire a sense of tranquility in the combined inspiration from this manga genre and her personal memories.

Paintings follow the day in the life of two female characters, possibly Maya and her cousin or a school friend, set in the early 2000s when she would have been spending a lot of time in Kanazawa and attending school there. The paintings highlight mundane everyday moments shared between close friends in a time before social media and major globalization, embedded with personal stories and familial memories. The series contains 7 paintings total, hung in order from morning to evening in chronological order. The viewer can enter the fair booth and follow the characters through their day from the right side of the booth to the left side.