Equally fascinated by how food is prepared, Myhrvold traveled to Matsushimaya, a small and historic Japanese confectionery in Minato, Tokyo, to photograph the painstaking process of making mame daifuku by hand. A twelve-image series captures the care and intention that goes into transforming glutinous rice and red beans into a sweet, delicate mochi cake. This exhibition will present for the first time these limited-edition images available to the public.

“It is an honor for our team to have this opportunity to collaborate with Nathan on his inaugural exhibition and to also craft a storyline between his photography and cuisine. We’re excited to welcome guests to THE GALLERY for this incredible, thought-provoking display of works,”noted Hiroki Odo. 

Describing his unique perspective, Myhrvold added, “As a photographer, I like to look at familiar things in an unfamiliar way. Food is something that’s so much a part of our lives. What we eat has never been more important to us than it is today. Food is one of the ways we define cultures and ourselves as individuals, and, at the same time, it also connects and brings us closer to others. Food as art is an expression of those values.” 

Beyond the exhibition, Myhrvold’s frozen-motion wine photography is on display in the Odo Lounge and private dining room. These works were created using custom-built robotics to capture moments in fractions of a second and evoke the fleeting beauty of a perfect glass of wine. Intention and Detail can be viewed during THE GALLERY by Odo’s hours, 11:45 a.m.– 2:30 p.m. and 5:00–10:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. All artwork is available for purchase.

About the artist: Nathan Myhrvold is the founder of Modernist Cuisine and lead author and photographer of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, Modernist Cuisine at Home, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Bread, Modernist Pizza, Food & Drink: Modernist Cuisine Photography, and Modernist Bread at Home. He routinely pushes the boundaries of culinary science as a chef, photographer, scientist, and writer. At a young age, he consumed cooking books and invested in new cameras and lenses—even while doing postdoctoral cosmology work with Stephen Hawking. While working as the chief technology officer of Microsoft, he took a leave of absence to earn his culinary diploma from École de Cuisine La Varenne in France. Myhrvold retired from Microsoft in 1999 to found Intellectual Ventures and pursue several interests, including photography, cooking, and food science. Inspired by the void in literature about culinary science and the cutting-edge techniques used in the world’s best restaurants, Myhrvold assembled the Modernist Cuisine team to share the art and science of cooking with others. He opened Modernist Cuisine Gallery by Nathan Myhrvold in 2017 after years of requests to purchase the photographs he’d taken for the Modernist Cuisine books.