British Contemporary:
Michael Craig-Martin/
Damien Hirst/ Julian Opie

Michael Craig-Martin
《Domesticated Nature: Vegetables》
2022

Damien Hirst
《Norcamphor》
61cm×61cm 、2011

Julian Opie
《Day and Night》
2021

Vol.1　23.May Sat. ~ 18.Jun.Thu.2026
Vol.2　1.Aug. Sat. ~ 29 Aug.Sat.2026
*Closed on Sundays, Mondays, National Holidays

imura art gallery is pleased to present “British Contemporary: Michael Craig-Martin / Damien Hirst / Julian Opie.”

From the late 1980s through the 1990s, British contemporary art attracted international attention through a new movement known as YBAs (Young British Artists). Characterized by innovative expressions unconstrained by convention and by strong conceptual messages, YBAs had a profound impact on the development of contemporary art thereafter.

This exhibition focuses on Michael Craig-Martin, a key figure in conceptual art who greatly influenced the YBA generation, alongside works by two leading YBA artists, Damien Hirst and Julian Opie. Craig-Martin’s use of vivid colors, concise line drawing, and conceptual approaches through everyday motifs had a significant influence on subsequent generations of artists. Meanwhile, Hirst developed provocative works centered on themes of life and death, while Opie pursued radically simplified visual representations of people and landscapes, each presenting new perspectives within contemporary art.

Through the distinct practices of these three artists, the exhibition highlights the lineage and diverse appeal of British contemporary art.

*The exhibition will be presented in two parts: Vol.1 (June) and Vol.2 (August). We warmly invite you to enjoy both exhibitions.

Satoru Aoyama
Time Machine

《Time Machine》2026
Photography by MIYAJIMA Kei
©AOYAMA Satoru, Courtesy of Mizuma Art Gallery

4 Jul. Sat. ~ 25 Jul.Sat.2026
*Closed on Sundays, Mondays, National Holidays
Courtesy of Mizuma Art Gallery
Opening Reception:4 Jul. Sat.

showcase #14
“The Edge of Japan, and of the Japanese Language”
curated by minoru shimizu
Ryuichi Ishikawa | Hirotaka Soda

Ryuichi Ishikawa

Hirotaka Soda

17 Apr. Fri.– 17 May Sun. 2026
open on fri., sat., & sun. 12:00-18:00
appointments are available on weekdays
free admission

eN arts will participate in “KYOTOGRAPHIE 2026” in KG+ for collectors section.

On April 17, 2026, our new exhibition “showcase #14 curated by minoru shimizu: The Edge of Japan, The Edge of the Japanese Language,” curated by Professor Minoru Shimizu

The “showcase” series, which began in 2012, is an exhibition specializing in photographic and video works. This series is positioned as a platform for considering contemporary trends in expression by introducing the latest works of artists selected by Prof. Shimizu in each show. This exhibition is the 14th in the series.
For “showcase #14,” we welcome Ryuichi Ishikawa and Hirotaka Soda as exhibiting artists. For details on the concepts of the exhibition, and the production and works, please refer to the statements by Prof. Shimizu and each artist on the following pages.

We sincerely look forward to your visit.

In closing of my remarks, I would like to express our gratitude to Canon Inc. for their generous cooperation in printing Ryuichi Ishikawa’s works exhibited in “showcase #14 curated by minoru shimizu”.

eN arts

showcase #14
The Edge of Japan, and of the Japanese Language

Ryuichi Ishikawa (1984–) likely needs no introduction. After gaining attention as an honorable mention in the 2012 Canon New Cosmos of Photography (selected by Minoru Shimizu), he won the prestigious Kimura Ihéi Award in 2014. Since then, he has been based in Okinawa and continues to be active. His signature work is the “Okinawan Portraits” series, which vividly captures diverse Okinawans—of different genders, races, and occupations—alongside their daily lives. This is the artist’s second appearance since the 2014 showcase, “Portraits of Japan.” Ten years later, he is once again confronting the theme of portraiture. Whereas the earlier Okinawan portraits vividly captured the people alongside their living environments, the new works seek to reveal the entirety of the individuals’ lives—and, by extension, the present state of Okinawa—by delving deeper into each person.

“Calligraphy as contemporary art,” which has begun to attract attention in recent years, redefines calligraphy as a form of contemporary art that takes language as its subject matter and expresses language. At the cutting edge of this tendency is Soda Hirotaka (b. 1974). Taking language as one’s subject matter and expressing language equate to an awareness that words are in every respect readymades and that their essence is rooted in the fundamental political nature of human society. Words were not created by anyone in particular, but because they are not generated spontaneously, they are artificial things or “readymades” provided to newborn babies as things that are “already made.” Moreover, as a system of differentiated sounds, words are continually changing and from the outset there are no clear boundaries between one language and another. It was none other than the politics of “nationalism” that rose in the 18th century that caused them to separate into individual “languages.” As for systems of writing, these were invented by societies as they came to deal with large populations that exceeded the human faculty of memory and the accompanying large volumes of data and are clearly artificial things, which, as they reached the stage where they became linked to print media, changed from written records of individuals into norms in the form of orthographies. “National languages,” “native languages,” “writing” and “orthographies” are all products of politics. The very edge that politics has given to the Japanese language is the theme of Hirotaka Soda. Poetic phrases—whether original or quoted—are written on the canvas using asphalt repair material, yet this “Japanese” is spelled out in kanji and alphabet. Unorthodox spellings reflect the groundlessness of so-called standard orthography.

The 2026 showcase#14 is a two-person exhibition pairing Ryuichi Ishikawa, who attempts new portraits at Japan’s edge, Okinawa, with Hirotaka Soda, who continues to question the edge of the Japanese language. This time, I have planned an exhibition blending the works of two artists. Come experience the resonance between these two distinct edges at the exhibition.

April, 2026 Minoru Shimizu

From around 2010, when I began to consciously focus on portrait photography, and for roughly the following decade, I was thinking about how individuals exist within various environments, situations, and relationships, based on the idea that the surroundings and circumstances that envelop a person are deeply connected to their personality. My original interest lay in existence itself, and “okinawan portraits” emerged from the fact that the land of Okinawa is deeply intertwined both with the environments depicted in the photographs and with my own identity as the photographer.

Through subsequent experimentation and exploration via photography, and in the process of producing the work Inside Life (The Inside of Life), the direction of these relationships gradually shifted. Rather than focusing on the visible individual subject itself or the information readable from its details, my attention turned toward the background that can be interpreted through the subject’s mode of being, its parts, and its relationships with various things beyond the subject.

In this exhibition, works have been selected from my ongoing series”qualia”and “The Shell of Human” in response to a request from Minoru Shimizu, following the keyword “Okinawa.” As with my previous works, the selection consists of photographs taken in Okinawa, and where possible, I have tried to choose subjects who have some form of connection to Okinawa. However, given that the underlying concept arises from interests at a nearly unconscious level, and as exemplified particularly in “qualia”, where the background is intentionally simplified, the works are largely detached from regional culture—aside from my own origins and the location of the shoot. Instead, they are intended to foreground the subject’s existence itself and to encourage interpretations of environments, situations, land, and history as abstracted within the individual’s inner life.

In “The Shell of Human”, by likening portraits photographed at or near the sea to seashells, I attempt to bring into relief the human outline as a moving body of physical energy. In “qualia”, the background is further simplified, and by directing attention to the subject’s details, the sensations evoked through visually conveyed textures emerge as ineffable qualia—difficult to describe in words. At the same time, by fostering empathy toward the subject’s inner life as suggested by subtle expressions in these details, the work seeks to connect at the deepest level of existence.

Ryuichi Ishikawa

When reading words handwritten by someone else, there is a rough feeling, as if the writer’s gaze is caressing the writer’s skin, and the handwriting is materialized by the writing material. The meaning of the written words does not materialize, but depending on the content, there is a unique feeling that is different from the feel of handwritten characters.For me, the world of writing, with its duality of writing and reading, is a mixture of these sensations, with unique hues absorbed into my consciousness through my gaze. The sensation I get when I write or when I read someone else’s writing is always fluctuating between discomfort and pleasure. I cherish the confirmation of this sensation.

Hirotaka Soda

Michael Anastassiades
“From Warm Yellow to Saturated Red”

Courtesy of Taka Ishii Gallery
Photo: Marietta Mavrokordatou

Courtesy of Taka Ishii Gallery
Photo: Marietta Mavrokordatou

6 Jun.Sat. - 4 Jul. Sat.2026

Taka Ishii Gallery Kyoto is pleased to present a solo exhibition of works by Michael Anastassiades from Saturday, June 6 to Saturday, July 4. This is his third presentation at the gallery since 2019, showcasing his latest work with a particular focus on lighting design.

From Warm Yellow to Saturated Red

At the start, the sun is roughly 0.5° above the horizon. The atmosphere filters out the “cool” blue and violet light, leaving the warm yellow and gold tones. As it sinks further, the path of light through the air increases significantly. The atmosphere now scatters away the greens and yellows, leaving only the warmest part of the spectrum. By the time only the top sliver is visible, the light is passing through the maximum amount of air. Red light has the longest wavelength, meaning it is the only color capable of traveling that long distance to your eyes without being scattered.

For his second solo exhibition in Japan, Michael Anastassiades presents a curated selection of lighting, seating and sculptural objects presented throughout Taka Ishii Gallery in Kyoto. The works include a series of lamps with filament lights suspended inside fine glass tubes, stools crafted from a single trunk of solid douglas fir, lights made from moso bamboo and from shiratake bamboo, and a series of cast bronze objects patinated by hand.

Michael Anastassiades

Michael Anastassiades is a Cypriot-born British designer based in London. He initially trained as a civil engineer at Imperial College, before taking a Master’s degree in Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art. He founded his studio in 1994, followed by his eponymous brand in 2007.

His studio works across lighting, furniture, objects and spatial design. He has designed products for manufacturers, produced signature limited edition collections and presented solo exhibitions at galleries and museums worldwide. He has previously exhibited with Taka Ishii Gallery in Tokyo in 2017 and in Hong Kong in 2019. His most recent solo exhibition, “All Colours Will Agree in The Dark”, was presented in 2025 at Melas Martinos gallery in Athens.

In 2015, Anastassiades received the Royal Designer for Industry award from the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of outstanding contribution to lighting design. He has gone on to win several awards, including the ADI Compasso d’Oro in 2020 and the London Design Medal in 2025. In 2024, he received an OBE from King Charles III for services to design.

Rui Sakurai Exhibition

9 Jun. Tue. - 20 Jun.Sat.2026

Kazuo Matsumoto
「soft walls」(fresco)

8 Jul. Wed. – 2 Aug. Sun.2026
13:00 – 19:00
closed on Mon. and Tue.

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS
Robert Zhao Renhu
:After Control

Robert Zhao Renhui, Red crabs on Christmas Island, 2015.

16 May Sat. - 12 Jul.Sun.2026
Closed on Monday

Organized by
　Kyoto City University of Arts
Curated by
　Mizuho Fujita (Chief Curator/
　Program Director, KCUA Art Gallery)

Artist Profiles:

Robert Zhao Renhui is a Singaporean artist whose work investigates how human systems shape the ways animals and landscapes are seen, classified, and controlled. Working across photography, video, installation, and publishing, he examines the shifting boundaries between the natural and artificial, often focusing on places where ecological life emerges within environments altered by urban development, abandonment, or regulation.His long-term projects are based on extended field observation and research, tracing how animals inhabit landscapes shaped by human intervention — from secondary forests in Singapore and abandoned islands in Thailand to managed countryside in the United Kingdom.
Through these works, Zhao proposes that nature is never separate from human activity, but continuously produced through systems of control, disturbance, and adaptation. He is the founder of the Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ), a platform through which he explores the politics of ecological knowledge and representation. His work has been presented internationally at major institutions including the Venice Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Thailand Biennale, and Fotografiska Shanghai.

ROOM1
AKI KURODA
COSMOFLOWER

20 Jun. Sat. – 18 Jul.Sat.2026
opening reception: 20th June 15:00-18:00

ROOM2
YASUHIRO FUJIWARA
Oscillation

20 Jun. Sat. – 18 Jul.Sat.2026
opening reception: 20th June 15:00-18:00

MORI YU GALLERY VIEWING ROOM：
133-17 Shimoseizoguchi-cho Kamigyo-ku Kyoto

〈1F〉
YOSHIDA Eriko Exhibition

9 Jun. Tue.- 14 Jun. Sun.2026

〈2F〉
SCHREINER COLE EXHIBIT Stardust Ballroom

9 Jun. Tue.- 14 Jun. Sun.2026

In a foreign town, in a foreign land, there stands a red house, or maybe a church. Near it stand one or two figures, strange in form and demeanor. Listening close, one can almost make out their whispered conversations. But just as their soft voices approach the border of clarity, a sudden wind scatters their words among the trees and the hills and the valleys. Then, all that remains is a black sky, infinite in its depth, lit by scattered stars. And the figures beneath seem to dance in silence.

〈1F+2F〉
Ruiko YOSHIDA Exhibition

16 Jun. Tue.- 21 Jun. Sun.2026

〈Back Yard〉
Saya KUSUI Solo Exhibition
The Leaning tree

12 Jan. Mon.- 14 Jun. Sun.2026

FOCUS＃6
Hana Sawada Exhibition

3 Apr.Fri. - 17 May Sun.2026

ITAGAKI Akira ・ CHON Yuri Exhibition

27 Mar.Fri.– 11 Apr.Sat.2026
Noon–6pm
（Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays）

HASHIZUME Chinatsu solo exhibition
Angel and Crab Goggles

9 Jun.Tue. – 14 Jun. Sun.2026

HASHIZUME Chinatsu (b.1994, Wakayama pref, lives and works in KANSAI) is a Japanese-style painter who depicts her interactions with cute angels using soft, gentle colors.
She graduated from the Japanese paintinting course at Seian University of the Arts.

MIZUGUCHI Natsuko solo exhibition
Galiban Traveler -Imagined Stencil Aperture-

19 Jun.Fri. – 28 Jun. Sun.2026

gallery MARONIE ＋ KUNST ARZT
present
TRUMP ART

30 Jun.Tue. – 12 Jul. Sun.2026

＜Artist（KUNST ARZT）＞

IKEUCHI Yoshie
ENOKI Chu
OKAMOTO Mitsuhiro
ONODA Yuishi
KIUCHI Takashi
KOMATSU Kanako
SHIMURA Kanae
SHUJI Chiaki
ZUIGYO Kanako
SODA hirotaka
TSUZUKI Takumi
NAKASHIMA Rika
NINOMIYA Sachiko
MIZUANEKAJIFU
YAMAMOTO Naoki
Yo!SHIKOWAKAKI Kurumi

YAMANISHI Anna solo exhibition
Transposition

17 Jul.Fri. – 26 Jul. Sun.2026

Yamanishi Anna (b.1990, Osaka pre., lives and works in Kansai) is an artist who primarily works with wood as her medium and explores the essence of existence.
She earned her master's degree in a URUSHI course at Kyoto city University of the Arts.

OISHI Marika Solo Exhibition
Doline

22 Aug.Sat. – 30 Aug. Sun.2026

OISHI Marika (b.1988,Osaka,lives and works in Nara) is an artist who finds beauty in disappearing and collapsing.
She earned her MA in Faculity of Painting in the Osaka Kyoiku University.

〈1F+2F〉
Florence 5-Person Exhibition
"IL SOGNO INFINITO"

9 Jun. Tue.– 14 Jun. Sun. 2026

〈1F〉
TAKEMURA Kana Exhibition

16 Jun. Tue.– 21 Jun. Sun. 2026

〈2F〉
TACHIMORI Sae YAMAMOTO Chisa Exhibition
afterglow

16 Jun. Tue.– 21 Jun. Sun. 2026

〈1F〉
MATSUMURA Ayako Exhibition

23 Jun. Tue.– 28 Jun. Sun. 2026

〈2F〉
KITAGAWA Urara Exhibition

23 Jun. Tue.– 28 Jun. Sun. 2026

ITO Naho・KANO Haruka Exhibition

9 May Sat.– 31 May Sun.2026

KG+
Anna Hayat & Slava Pirsky
Interval

18 Apr.Sat. – 3 May Sun.2026
11:00 ～ 18:00 Monday closed

In this exhibition Hayat and Pirsky present landscapes not as locations but as emotional spaces formed in the interval between material process and perception. Their images arise from a hybrid analog practice that includes expired Polaroid, manipulated negatives, chemical shifts, damaged emulsions, and fragments recombined with occasional digital intervention. Within this layered process the landscape becomes a site where memory and atmosphere emerge, suspended between what is recorded and what is felt.

Their compositions often follow classical structure with firm horizons, balanced geometries, and a measured sense of depth. At the same time each image holds an interruption such as burns, tears, chemical blooms, shifting skies, or fragments of abandoned forms. These elements introduce an interval between order and entropy, between intention and material autonomy. The landscape is shaped not only by the artists but by time itself.

What emerges is an emotional landscape where the absence of people becomes a form of presence. The earth continues on its own, independent and self contained, while meaning appears only in the space between the image and the viewer. Interval names this condition. It is the moment where nature remains itself and perception begins, where the landscape does not speak yet becomes resonant through looking. The viewer encounters not a place but a state of being, shaped within the interval between the outer world and inner experience.

Hikaru Narita
Minimal Fragments

mummy
2022
Acrylic on canvas
H57×W50 × D10 cm
Photo:Aya Suzuki

14 May Wed. – 11 Jun. Thu. 2026

Sokyo Gallery is pleased to present Minimal Fragments, a solo exhibition by Hikaru Narita. He is an artist working in sculpture and painting, known for a style that weaves an underlying sense of eeriness into pop aesthetics through characters reminiscent of anime and toys.

Narita has created works using materials such as frp and mdf so far. For this solo exhibition, however, Sokyo Gallery requested an “environmentally conscious” approach. In response, Narita undertook a new challenge, actively incorporating materials with reduced environmental impact into newly created works, which will be presented in this exhibition.
The main focus of the exhibition is a series of stuffed-sculpture works. This series emerged from a process of reconsidering his position as a sculptor, specifically exploring the question of how to elevate a two-dimensional image into a three- dimensional form.

While we seem to perceive objects as three-dimensional entities, we are, in fact, completing their images by connecting fragmentary visual information, such as front and back views. Narita focuses on this ambiguity of perception -a sensation akin to a “bug” in our vision- as the core of his practice.
In this exhibition, he deliberately narrows the information down to two fragmentary shapes, “front” and “back,” and situates them within a three-dimensional space. In the contemporary world saturated with an excess of information and material, the act of stripping away elements and reconstructing an object from minimal fragments serves as the artistʼs process for understanding the world.

We hope you will take this precious opportunity to experience his first solo exhibition at our gallery.

Yuken Teruya Exhibition
「Your Journey」

13 Jun. Sat. – 1 Jul. Wed.2026

Orecho Honda Exhibition

5 Jun. Fri. – 25 Jun. Thu.2026

Ema Imayoshi Exhibition

5 Jun. Fri. – 25 Jun. Thu.2026

Shuzo Takiguchi
Distance of a Fairy and Sphinx

25 Apr.Sat. – 26 Jul.Sun. 2026
13:00 － 18:00
Open only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays

Shuzo Takiguchi , who introduced Surrealism to Japan and dedicated his life to its promotion, collaborated with several artists on collection books of poems and illustration both before and after the world war Ⅱ. This exhibition will feature the Distance of a Fairy, a collaboration with Yoshifumi Abe (later known as Nobuya), and Sphinx, a collaboration with six painters and printmakers.

The English title of the Distance of a Fairy is based on the notation written in the copy formerly owned by Nobuya Abe.

The Distance of a Fairy is a collection of poems and illustrations co-authored with Yoshifumi Abe, combining Abe’s collotype-printed pencil drawings with poems by Takiguchi. It was published on October 15, 1937, by Masao Ohshita, and published by Shunchokai (later Bijutsu Shuppansha), priced at 2 yen and had a print run of 100 copies. Many copies are believed to have been lost in the war, and it is considered a representative rare book not only of Takiguchi’s work but also of Japanese avant-garde poetry collections. After the war, it was Takiguchi’s only collection of poems until “Shuzo Takiguchi’s Poetic Experiments 1927-1937” (Shichosha, 1967) was published. At the time of publication, Abe was 24 years old, and two years later, in 1939, he joined the Bijutsu Bunka Kyokai (Art and Culture Association). This book was also exhibited at the first exhibition of the Takemiya Gallery, which Takiguchi took over running free of charge after the war: “Nobuya Abe Solo Exhibition of Drawings and Oil Paintings” (June 1st-15th, 1951). 1937, the year it was published, was also the year that the “Overseas Surrealist Works Exhibition,” realized through the efforts of Takiguchi and Tiroux Yamanaka, toured various locations. The copy exhibited here is the 14th of 100 copies, a dedication book addressed to Yamanaka, and can be considered a monumental work commemorating the introduction and spread of Surrealism in Japan.

The Sphinx is a collection book of poems and prints in which six artists—Tamiji Kitagawa, Q Ei, Shigeru Izumi, Tadashi Kato, Kojin Toneyama, and Toshiko Aohara (Uchima)—each selected one of Takiguchi’s previously published poems and combined it with their own printmaking works. Fifty copies were published in 1954 as a private edition by Sadajiro Kubo. Kubo was also famous as an art critic, collector, and patron, and was actively involved in art education, later becoming the president of Atomi Gakuen Women’s Junior College and the first director of the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts. The six printmakers were all close to Kubo. Kitagawa co-founded the Creative Art Education Association with Kubo, and the other five artists, as well as Tatsuo Fukushima, who edited the book, and Ryuichi Yamashiro, who designed the cover, were all members of the Democrat Artists Association, which Kubo supported. The copy of Sphinx on display, no.Ⅰ of 50 copies published, is formerly owned by Sadajiro Kubo himself and bears the handwritten signatures of Kitagawa, Takiguchi, and Kubo.

This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see the Distance of Fairy and Sphinx side by side. We hope it will be a starting point to reconsider what each collection book of poems and illustrations meant to Takiguchi himself and to the various artists involved.

Products made with kakapo textiles
at GALLERY HEPTAGON

13 Jun. Sat. - 21 Jun. Sun.2026

Okinawa Zushigame Exhibition

27 Jun. Sat. - 20 Jul. Sun.2026