The egg or the chicken: that’s not the question. Here, the vain binary debate gives way to a branching multiplicity of reflections, all hatched from the egg. The e inside the o. The yolk within the white. Intact in the shell, nestled in its box, its basket, its nest, or shattered. Everything about the egg brings us back to both content and container, to the softness of the inside and the strength of the outside, to ideal form, completeness, the promise of life, hatching — but also to fragility, generous frugality, and even gluttony, when the bells begin to ring. Modest as it may be, the egg opens the imagination. As with each exhibition, Hectare’s gallerists, theme slung over their shoulders, go out to meet artists already exploring it in their own ways. No imposed subject here — just a common thread anchoring a constellation of ideas, techniques, even stories. Of personalities, in short. For Catarina Silva, the shimmering envelope of chocolate eggs rubs against the beadwork to create talismans of a new kind. Felieke Van der Leest exalts the animal world through a whimsical universe of daring combinations, pointed nods, and delicate subtext. Crushing the hard shells to recompose new, supple and resistant forms, Joohee Han challenges the natural order. Impermanence, imperfection, and the ephemeral dwell in Miki Asai’s still lifes, assembled from shells using the ancestral art of lacquer. Eggs and boxes become textured, architectural ornaments in Xiaochuan Zhang’s hands. Kanako Ebisawa’s eggcups, ceramic or plastic, open like totems or alcoves. From symbol to substance, from primal inspiration to faithful reproduction, from animal to mineral, EGGSQUISITE distills both the humble and the precious. An invitation to embrace the refinement of the essential.