Colour of Optimism
Solo show at the Exhibitionist Hotel
26 Nov 2025–13 Jan 2026
Four collections to explore colour, emotions, and life
The exhibition brings together four collections:
Collection 01The Art of Reclaiming Focus
A visual meditation on attention in an age of distraction, these paintings invite you to take a moment for yourself.
Collection 02Progress Is Not a Straight Line
Combining desire, insecurity, and determination, these works empower viewers to embrace imperfection and persistence.
Collection 03Art as Medicine
A series created for the artist’s London Art Fair panel with neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart and artist Dr. Charley Peters, this series celebrates the growing connection between art and wellbeing.
Collection 04According to the Academics
An academic paper found that blue, red, and green paintings sell best at auctions. Should we feel cheerful about that? But which shades and textures? This series wittily challenges the data.
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With Ayumi Goodman, GFM (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With journalist Yuki Sumner (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With artist Magdalena Gluszak-Holeksa (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Designer Emilie Chen & Creative director Teresa Ferreira (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Designers Emmi Salonen, Emilie Chen & Creative director Teresa Ferreira (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With colour specialists Karen Haller & Marianne Shillingford (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Curator Vestalia Chilton (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With artist Meg Shirayama (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Private View at The Exhibitionist Hotel (Photo by Elaine Potter)
With artist Mike Wilson (Photo by Elaine Potter)
Can art change your brain?
Neuroscience shows that art can change life. As Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross note in Your Brain on Art, “arts and aesthetics can quite literally rewire your brain.”
Mineyama-Smithson’s paintings channel this idea into bold colours, combining clean, hard-edge geometry. Her paintings are a quest for perfection in an imperfect world: from afar, lines appear flawless; up close, they reveal traces of struggle and determination. Honest, playful, unapologetically human.
Art that invites you to pause and reconnect
What is the colour of optimism? Is it something you can measure, like an academic might, in shades of blue, red, or green, or is it something you feel, something that shifts with your own emotional landscape?
In the Colour of Optimism exhibition, London-based Japanese artist June Mineyama-Smithson (MAMIMU) explores optimism as both an emotion and a strategy for living. Drawing inspiration from neuroscience, academic research, and life itself, her work invites viewers to pause, breathe, and reconnect with the resilient, playful side of being human.
Acrylic on Canvas
21 × 15 × 1cm
Inspired by my own disappointments, this piece encapsulates a mix of emotions—desire, insecurity, and renewed determination— aiming to empower viewers who share similar experiences. It’s a precarious journey, but we will survive, as we stand on a stable foundation at least.
Acrylic on wooden Skateboard
H60 × W14.8 × D1.2 cm
2025
Skateboard deck art vividly expressing a dynamic sense of progress and upward rise with a determined attitude.
A2 (w 59.4 × h 42 cm)
Museum-grade archival fine art print on premium matte paper 230gsm
Framed
1 of 5 posters originally created for a London Art Fair panel discussion “Art as Medicine — How have the arts and health sectors evolved to create social wellbeing?”.
I had the pleasure of chairing a fascinating discussion on the intersection of art and well-being with Dr. Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and former psychiatrist, and Dr. Charley Peters, an artist and academic. You can read more about this conversation here.
Acrylic and ceramic stucco on canvas
Phosphorescent (glow in the dark)
Original
H120 x W120 x D4.5 cm
Signed
Interplay of striking blue, red and pink that continues to the deep edge, with a yellow dot as a focal point.
Exhibited as part of The Art of Reclaiming Focus collection at Cult Vision during Clerkenwell Design Week 2025 and at the Exhibitionist Hotel during the Frieze Week 2025.
Shortlisted: ArtEvol, Saatchi Gallery, London 2025
Flex payment: Get in touch if you’d like to make this yours with a 50% deposit and flexible instalment payments.
Explore how colour, geometry, and human imperfection can reawaken our capacity for focus, joy, and resilience.
About the artist
June Mineyama-Smithson is a Japanese artist based in London, UK.
Her work aims to evoke optimism in a chaotic, imperfect world. She believes that in challenging times, optimism drives hope and determination, inspiring action towards a brighter future.
She exhibited at Kensington + Chelsea Art Fringe Week 2025 and ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2024, selected by Will Gompertz, former BBC Arts Editor. Her interest in combining art and science to explore Optimum Optimism led to a collaboration with neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart, resulting in a series of moving image idents for ITV.
She uses bold colours and shapes as a universal language that everyone instinctively understands, regardless of age, gender, or nationality. The geometric rhythm in her work offers a sense of play and direction, reflecting the journey towards positive change.
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”
— Noam Chomsky
Echoing Noam Chomsky’s idea that “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.” the artist sees optimism not as naïve positivity, but as grit; a determined mindset that helps us find light through uncertainty.
Her hard-edge paintings are a quest for perfection in an imperfect world: from afar, lines appear flawless; up close, they reveal traces of human struggle and determination. Honest, playful, unapologetically human.
This exhibition is sponsored by:
67 York Street Gallery is a warm and versatile gallery space for hire in London, ideal for artists, makers, designers, collectives and creative brands. Located in central London, on a charming street in Marylebone near Baker Street station, their venue offers an inspiring setting for a wide range of events — including exhibitions, trade meetings, pop-up shows and creative showcases.
My favourite fashion brand, with bold colours and a good dose of playfulness, topped with eco-friendly, oh-so-fluffy faux fur. Almost every time I wear my GFM jacket, happy things happen; like getting ID’d at Waitrose or being chatted up in Oxford Circus (I’m happily married, thanks!).
Creative Director at AkzoNobel Dulux UK & Ireland and founder of the Colour in Design Award, Marianne Shillingford is the authority on colour and one of the loveliest people I know in the industry.
She’s also an inspiring speaker and engaging presenter (she rubs shoulders with TV celebs, don’t you know?). She’ll brighten up any room instantly.