Tokyo Gendai opened its third version earlier this week with a press and VIP preview preceded for the primary time by a curatorial symposium. The dialogue introduced collectively M+ curator Isabella Tam, inventive director and chief curator Doryun Chong and Dallas Museum of Artwork curator Vivian Li—a major second and a strategic begin for a good that goals to additional the internationalization and world recognition of Japan’s artwork scene. This was additionally the primary version of the truthful to be held in September, timing that Magnus Renfrew described as a “prime spot” on Japan’s cultural calendar. The brand new slot aligns with geijutsu no aki, the standard autumn season for artwork, and comes as Japan reaches a brand new peak on the worldwide stage because the second-largest artwork market in Asia. Tokyo’s solely actually worldwide artwork truthful, it arrives in a yr dense with cultural milestones—from Expo Osaka to the Aichi Triennale—reinforcing its function as a platform for alternate.
Roughly one-third of the exhibitors have been new to the truthful, signaling rising curiosity in reaching Japanese collectors. Nonetheless, some galleries selected to not return, underscoring the challenges the market poses for international individuals and the issue of including one other truthful to an already crowded September artwork truthful calendar.
To develop its regional dialogue, Tokyo Gendai partnered for the primary time with Artwork Busan on “Crossroads of Modern Artwork,” supporting 9 Korean and two Chinese language galleries on the truthful flooring and in a satellite tv for pc program at TERRADA ART COMPLEX, the place Korean and Japanese galleries shared house. As truthful director Eri Takane advised Observer forward of the opening, lots of this yr’s worldwide collectors who joined the expanded VIP program got here from South Korea and different close by international locations, with a notable share belonging to a youthful technology.
Japan has a rising group of extremely dedicated artwork collectors, lots of whom began with trend and sneakers of their twenties and are actually shifting towards design and artwork. In parallel, a rising variety of rich younger folks from the area—significantly from China—have been shopping for houses in Japan and in some instances relocating, creating a brand new viewers for Japanese galleries and artists.
On web site, the environment was extra relaxed than at different world gala’s but nonetheless dynamic. A choose group of tremendous VIPs entered an hour earlier than the official 2 p.m. opening, whereas the redesigned flooring plan—with beneficiant spacing between cubicles—created a extra open expertise that inspired lingering and reflection moderately than the chaotic density typical of bigger worldwide gala’s. By mid-afternoon, nonetheless, the aisles had stuffed, and native and regional collectors have been actively partaking in conversations throughout cubicles.
The spacious format additionally made room for 11 large-scale installations and sculptures, featured as a part of the curated Sato Meadow program. Highlights included Rieko Otake’s wooden sculptures introduced by Tomio Koyama Gallery and Otani Workshop’s new bronze-and-gold fantastical figures introduced by Kaikai Kiki.
Sokyo Gallery launched inexperienced glimpses of forest with “Artwork Truthful for Earth,” with ceramic works by Kanjiro Kawai, Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach, Tony Marsh, Sylvie Auvray and Kimiyo Mishima. In its principal sales space, the Kyoto-based gallery staged an formidable presentation of uncanny sculptures in hemp material and styrofoam by Aoki Chie, the place human proportions grow to be malleable and transmute into new humanoid types. By the opening, a tall vertical sculpture had already offered for ¥7.5 million, with smaller works priced between ¥1.98 million and ¥13.2 million.
After a busy week in Seoul, Johyun Gallery unveiled a extra expansive set up of work by Kim Taek Sang, whom it started representing this yr. With costs starting from $13,000 to $94,000 relying on scale, his luminous fluid work are gaining worldwide traction, having just lately been proven with Lehmann Maupin and in Japan. The works prolong portray past the wall into house, emphasizing the fluidity that defines his observe. In its principal sales space, Johyun additionally introduced a few of its most in-demand artists, together with Lee Bae, with a sequence of charcoal works on paper and bronzes “exploring how time, course of and portray can coexist and overlap.” The presentation expands the canvas into an area that’s directly performative and meditative. Additionally on view have been signature works by Ha Chong-Hyun and later Ecriture work by Park Web optimization-Bo, carried by the momentous market peak following his latest passing.
Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki gallery introduced a roster of extremely sought-after artists, largely from Japan and largely outlined by kawaii and manga-inspired aesthetics. The lineup additionally included a number of Korean artists, corresponding to Hyunjun Hong, who had a robust reception at Frieze Seoul the week earlier than.
An analogous aesthetic was on view at Tokyo-based Nanzuka, which introduced pop- and manga-inspired works with big-eyed characters by Pex Pitakpong. Priced between $10,000 and $19,000, his six new works offered out on the primary day. The gallery additionally launched Yoshiki Muramatsu, a younger artist just lately found and mentored by one in all its main names, presenting portraits that steadiness manga aesthetics with archetypal spirituality and cosmologies. His androgynous characters, drawn from the unconscious, have been priced below $10,000 and offered rapidly, following a robust reception at Miami Artwork Basel final December.
Worldwide galleries continued to check the Japanese market, with gross sales at Japanese cubicles underscoring its energy. Amongst returning names, Sadie Coles HQ presents works by Isabella Ducrot, forward of a solo present celebrating the stressed materials explorations of the 90-year-old Italian artist at Ryosuku-In in Kenninji Temple, Kyoto, throughout Artwork Collaboration Kyoto. One other spotlight was a big new work by Yu Nishimura, the rising Japanese painter whose sold-out Zwirner debut earlier this yr led to a co-representation deal.
Tempo Gallery in Tokyo stored most costs within the five-digit vary, displaying a sales space that blended institutional and collectible names, together with sculptures by Elmgreen & Dragset, work by Jules De Balincourt and new canvases by Gideon Appah. Drawing consideration within the hall have been two vibrant new psychedelic tropical landscapes by Alejandro Piñero Belo, the Cuban artist with an extended ready listing, timed to his first Asia solo opening the next week at Tempo’s Hong Kong house.
Contemporary from profitable outings at Armory and Frieze Seoul, A Lighthouse known as Kanata introduced acrobatic sculptural works by Niyoko Ikuta, alongside work by Takafumi Asakura and Kentaro Sato’s karashikomi approach, amongst others. “We play at house right here,” the gallery’s founder Wahei Aoyama advised Observer, expressing confidence that early momentum would generate much more gross sales than these already secured earlier than and throughout the opening hours.
It was a robust opening day for main Tokyo gallery KOTARO NUKAGA, which by noon had positioned a significant portray by Tomokazu Matsuyama for over $100,000. The gallery additionally offered two works by fast-rising painter Tomona Matsukawa (¥1,000,000-3,000,000), three work by Morimoto Keita and two works by Yohei Chimura (¥400,000-500,000 every).
Following her acclaimed solo sales space at The Armory Present, Japanese-Canadian artist Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka positioned a piece for round $4,500. Further first-day gross sales included two items by Takako Araki (round ¥500,000 every), seven drawings by Takehito Koganezawa (round ¥300,000 every) and a portray by Peruvian Indigenous artist Rember Yahuarcani ($35,000-40,000). Yahuarcani, whom the gallery just lately started representing, has been in excessive demand since his presentation alongside his father on the final Venice Biennale.
French gallery Ceysson Bénétière anchored its sales space with new work by Bernar Venet, extending his inquiry into algorithmic structure in parallel with a solo exhibition that opened earlier within the week on the gallery’s new Tokyo location. This system was complemented by a stay efficiency by the artist within the afternoon. The sales space additionally introduced a mixture of extremely sought-after and extra institutionally oriented artists from the French gallery’s roster, together with new works by Antwan Horfee and Wim Delvoye. Talking with director Leslie You throughout the exhibition opening, Observer realized that the gallery continues to face vital challenges working in Japan—most notably onerous import taxes and cumbersome forms. But the workforce stays satisfied Tokyo is a stronger selection than once-hyped Asian facilities like Seoul or Hong Kong, because it provides the possibility to domesticate a wholly new viewers keen to have interaction with their worldwide program.
Debuting in Tokyo, Eva Presenhuber introduced new works by Tschabalala Self and Sam Falls, amongst others. Japanese collectors are extra educated and educated than their Korean counterparts, the gallery’s director Andrea Grimm advised Observer, emphasizing that it was nonetheless too early to evaluate the truthful’s outcomes. “That is our first time taking part in Tokyo Gendai, and the response has been improbable. We’ve met many fascinating new collectors and curators,” he mentioned, noting that they acquired curiosity in all 4 artists on view, every with main museum exhibitions scheduled in fall 2025: Tschabalala Self on the Australian Centre for Modern Artwork (ACCA) in Melbourne, Sam Falls on the Hiroshima Museum of Artwork, Tobias Pils on the Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna and Shara Hughes on the Norton Museum in Palm Seashore.
This version additionally marked the primary participation of Shanghai’s gallery BANK, which reported being usually happy with the primary day’s reactions and interactions. “Japan is a tough market to penetrate, however we had some presales and regular motion on the primary day,” the gallery’s founder Mathieu Borysevicz advised Observer. It introduced experimental works by Lu Yang, a Chinese language artist they characterize who is predicated in Tokyo and broadly recognized there, making her presence key in attracting each collectors and a broader viewers. As Borysevicz famous, Michael Lin, the Taiwanese artist born in Tokyo and lengthy exhibited in Japan, additionally helped generate institutional acquisition curiosity.
Highlights and discoveries
Close by, HARUKA ITO by Island staged one of many truthful’s most experimental and impressive shows, that includes Nanae Mitobe. Drawing from the countless circulation of social media characters and standard tradition, she pulls photographs from the doomscroll and interprets them into wooden constructions and plaster types, remodeling fleeting icons into densely textured creatures that seem uncannily actual.
Already standard with Japanese collectors—significantly for her summary canvases—Mitobe’s theatrical installations revealed a rising capability as a world-builder. Costs vary from $4,000 to $10,000, and the gallery reported early gross sales and powerful curiosity, particularly for her U.S.-inspired pop sequence. “We’re happy to announce a beautiful response from guests: the big Bowie work was the very first to be positioned, adopted by the Trump busts and different items, marking a robust and inspiring begin to the exhibition,” gallery rep Yui Horiuchi advised Observer on the finish of the day. This promising younger Japanese expertise will quickly spend a yr within the U.S. on a authorities grant, a transfer anticipated to generate additional curiosity and recognition past her house nation.
Equally experimental was a presentation by Vancouver’s Unit 17, which opted for a minimal sales space that includes sculptural aerials of swimming pools and fashions of adjusting rooms. These works functioned as psychological and sociological investigations into areas central to neighborhood life, rendered with a resourceful DIY aesthetic and on a regular basis supplies. A tape mural stretched throughout each partitions remodeled the sales space into one other sculptural component, whereas a minimal pin with a lens in Bubble created a wholly new imaginative surroundings. With solely a handful of objects, the sales space powerfully evoked how constructed environments act as shared social frameworks, re-presenting the unusual bodily world by means of intimate, playful views that invite a childlike sense of exploration. The artist additionally unveiled Pit (2025), a large-scale set up created particularly for Tokyo Gendai’s Sato part: an oblong pit resembling a pool, full of a whole bunch of blue paper bins.
This yr, the truthful’s Hana part provided ample house for locating promising new abilities. Tokyo’s CON_Gallery introduced work by rising Korean artist Minhee Kim, whose densely textured work discover mythology and representations of the feminine determine in Japanese and Korean traditions. Via layered, sensual purposes of paint, she envisions new muses and characters, stripping away stereotyped photographs drawn from the fluid house of latest digital tradition. On the identical time, she challenges Korean magnificence beliefs and the countless modifications imposed to fulfill them, pushing her observe towards more and more formidable scales that check and transcend the supposed limits of the feminine physique. Following a residency at Artwork Om in 2019, Kim will current a monumental work in an upcoming exhibition on the Kuhmo Museum. But her costs stay extremely accessible, from $4,000 for intimate canvases to $11,000 for her largest works.
PARCEL is one other younger Japanese gallery that, in only a few years, has constructed a world status by means of daring, experimental shows at world gala’s. At Tokyo Gendai, the gallery staged a centered solo sales space of recent work by Japanese and New York-based artist Masamitsu Shigeta. After learning at NYU and SVA, Shigata labored in a furnishings store—an expertise that continues to tell his observe, as he now crafts the picket frames that play a central function in his work, encapsulating and finishing the dense emotional and memorial cost of his work. His canvases depict seemingly unusual but deeply nostalgic moments from Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong, unfolding as emotional journeys to locations of attachment. By foregrounding the quiet presence of timber and nature, Shigata celebrates the usually neglected fantastic thing about on a regular basis life in work priced from $4,000 to $18,000.
Among the many worldwide galleries debuting on the truthful, Amsterdam’s No Man’s Artwork Gallery introduced watercolors, textile works and a big tufted set up by Dutch artist Afra Eisma. Her intimate watercolor textiles and extra expansive tufted cosmologies faucet right into a fairy-tale allegorical register, setting up fantastical universes that maintain each gentle and shadow. Viewers are drawn right into a dense, symbolic, colourful and tactile world embedded throughout the very cloth of the works, which function containers for feelings. The tufted items embody an unfinished, uncooked high quality—echoing the internal lifetime of feelings and recollections—whereas the sewn textiles use stitching as a type of drawing, changing into an evocative tribute to materials itself. Costs ranged from $3,700 to $20,000, and eisma’s ever-expanding world is already attracting notable institutional consideration in Europe and overseas. The biggest work, love is louder (2024), dominated the sales space like a climbing plant and was initially commissioned for her latest solo at ICA San Diego.
One other spotlight got here from Drawing Room, Manila, which featured the work of Robert Gutierrez. His luminous work, all priced below $10,000, draw on Filipino folklore in addition to a visionary connection to archetypal and symbolic dimensions, channeling alchemical transformations that recommend the interconnected nature of beings and custom.
Equally memorable was the solo sales space by Exit Gallery from Hong Kong devoted to Konstantin Bessmertny. Drawing on Bosch-like obsessions and an encyclopedic urge for food that spans artwork historical past from East to West, Bessmertny’s fantastical but vital works blur historical past and fiction, weaving tropes into carnivalesque commentary on the absurdity of human conduct and its recurring patterns throughout time. Born in Siberia and primarily based in Macau, the artist situates his observe inside a densely layered imaginary that reconsiders human historical past on the intersections of Portugal, Japan, fiction and faith—from Nanban artwork to Portuguese “black ships”—unleashing Boschian symbolic fluxes that stretch towards legendary and epic narratives.
In the meantime, THEO Gallery (primarily based in Seoul and Jakarta) introduced the extra poetic work of Wonkyo Choi, who offered a bit throughout the first hours—a framed pile of paper portraying younger kids, priced below $5,000. Specializing in photographs generated in digital environments, the Korean artist seeks to revive intimacy and emotional poetry, working on the intersection of contrasting and reconstructed realms of human expertise. Close by, EM Gallery devoted its sales space to the existential and meditative black-and-white work of Moonassi, recent off a sell-out in Seoul, with a number of works presold and others intentionally reserved for Japanese and Korean collectors.
Past galleries, Tokyo Gendai additionally reserved cubicles to highlight Japan’s rising ecosystem of artwork areas and foundations. Particular shows highlighted the Odawara Artwork Basis in Kanagawa, the brand new Futake Basis in Naoshima and the Obayashi Basis in Tokyo—an acknowledgment of the institutional infrastructure now supporting the nation’s more and more dynamic artwork ecosystem, which nonetheless has a lot to supply and additional develop.
Extra in artwork gala’s, biennials and triennials
