Ace Hotel Kyoto marked its 1st anniversary on June 11 since opening. In celebration of hitting the milestone, the hotel is collaborating with Japanese artist Yu Nagaba by displaying his work at its gallery until June 30. The works displayed are of the sights and people that Nagaba saw and penned in a memo pad while staying at Ace Hotel Kyoto. All of the illustrations were made for this exhibition and so they are being exhibited for the first time. One of the pieces is also being sold at stickers in the hotel’s shop.

Yu Nagaba‘s work

Yu Nagaba | Comment

“After I heard whispers that Ace Hotel was setting up in Kyoto, I hoped I could do something, so I was happy to take part in this project, but I also spent my time wondering what I could draw, and no ideas came to mind. After pondering I went to find inspiration by deciding to stay at Ace Hotel. I drew what came to mind during my time there as I walked the streets of Kyoto and spent time at the hotel. I drew a total of 49 illustrations in my memo pad. I painted six of my favourites on canvas. I hope people can get a feel for my experiences of Kyoto in these pieces.”

In ART is a Japanese virtual art museum displaying works by a line-up of specially-selected artists. The museum is accessible through VR where users can not only look at art pieces but watch commentaries by the artists as well as shop at the museum store.

In ART has revealed that abstract painter CBA will be the third in a line-up of solo exhibitions. CBA is a graphic designer with over 20 years of experience and is also active as a musician both in Japan and overseas. They changed jobs to become an artist in 2010, and since then, their unique style which breaks language and cultural barriers has garnered them many fans from outside Japan. Most recently, CBA opened a solo exhibition at Franck Muller Boutique in Madrid, Spain. Their work is inherently universal, getting through to people regardless of age, language, or culture, something which is best appreciated when seen for yourself, and is now observable at In ART.

Some of CBA’s works on virtual display

CBA | Comment

-shine on the life-　Pray for better life
“The foundation of my work is built on putting together different elements to create something, just like how you would techno music. Colours and shapes elicit emotions and smells. Abstract painting isn’t just playing around experimenting or taking chances—it’s something that’s formed and composed, and I’d love for people to enjoy that aspect when looking at my work. I urge you to enjoy the colours, shapes, and compositions as you would music.”

In ART opened as a service offering people the opportunity to spend time enjoying art, even alone in their own house, as well as serving as a platform to support artists. Its aim is to make art a normal part of of everybody’s lives, and it does this in the form of a virtual museum which uses 3DCG technology. While it is an art museum, you don’t have to pay to enter. You can enjoy artwork at your leisure on your favourite device, and if there’s a piece you want to buy, then you can.

Don’t miss the abstract work of CBA in their virtual solo exhibition.

Sarutahiko Coffee reached its 10-year milestone on June 8. To celebrate, the Japanese coffee chain launched a 10 year anniversary promotion on the same day.

The coffee giant released its 10th Anniversary Mocha No.1 Blend and 10th Anniversary Mocha No.1 Superior Java Blend for its first rollout of the promotion. For its second release, Sarutahiko is teaming up with MEDICOM TOY’s popular BE@RBRICK figure series to release an original model at its Ebisu and The Bridge Harajuku Station branches as well as its online store.

The palm-sized figure is coloured Sarutahiko’s iconic blue colour and features a brown logo on its chest. It’s a simple but cute design and is a perfect gift to coffee lovers.

Tokyo sneaker culture brand atmos is now holding an exhibition titled “First steps with Salomon Presents by atmos” until June 20.

Mt.TAKAO BASE CAMP is a guest house located just 3-minutes on foot from Takaosanguchi Station. Equipped with showers, lockers, and a cafe/bar, it’s a hot spot amongst mountain climbers. It’s there that atmos and Salomon are hosting the exhibition in collaboration with UND, an art duo made up of illustrators FACE and SHINKNOWNSUKE, themed on mountains.

Visitors are made with a giant piece of UND art at the entrance window of two hikers. They iwll also be handed an exclusive zine which includes a map of Mt. Takao.

Lacoste launched its ‘REGENERATION’ project in April to turn the brand’s second-hand clothes into artwork. The first instalment of the environmentally-considered project received huge praise, finishing collections of old clothing on May 31. The 488 items received will serve as the base for various products and art. The next step is the REGENERATION phase which invites various artists on board.

Upcycle Artists

Marie

Hikaru Matsubara

Furniture Artist

Fuyuki Shimazu

Artists participating in the project include Marie who’s active in working against environmental and societal problems through fashion and Hikaru Matsubara who has won awards at various art fairs up and down Japan. The products are planned for release on August 18 with more info set to roll out on Lacoste Japan’s official website in the lead up. Fuyuki Shimazu, an artist who makes furniture from cardboard boxes, is also involved in the project. The three artists are working to add value to items that have seemingly lost it by turning Lacoste’s second hand clothes into something that can be used by the next person.

June 21 will mark three years since MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: EPSON teamLab Borderless first opened. Located in Odaiba, Tokyo, the digital art museum is commemorating its anniversary with two new installations: Sketch Aquarium: Connected World and Sharing Rock Mass, Transcending Space. Experience digital art, which blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, change in real time as people come into contact with it.

MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: EPSON teamLab

Sketch Aquarium: Connected World

teamLab describes this exhibit:

The fish drawn by everyone swim around in this aquarium.

Color in a fish on the paper provided. See the picture you have drawn come to life in the massive aquarium in front of you, swimming together with the fish drawn by other people. If you touch the swimming fish, they will swim away. If you touch the food bags, you can also feed the fish.

The tuna you draw will transcend the boundaries of the artwork and swim out into the Sketch Aquariums and Sketch Oceans of exhibitions around the world. And the tuna drawn in other parts of the world may appear and swim in the Sketch Aquarium right in front of you.

Sharing Rock Mass, Transcending Space

teamLab describes this exhibit:

A rock mass floats in the world of the teamLab Borderless museum in Shanghai. The rock mass floats through the hallway of teamLab Borderless Shanghai and sinks into the wall. The rock mass transcends the physical space of the museum itself, the part that sinks into the wall appears in the world of the teamLab Borderless museum in Tokyo.

When people touch the part of the rock mass emerging in Tokyo, it shines with blue light. This light flows to the rock mass sunken into the wall in Shanghai. When people touch the part of the rock mass sunken into the wall in Shanghai, it shines with a red light which flows to the rock mass here in Tokyo. When red light flows into the rock mass, it indicates that someone in Shanghai is touching the rock mass.

teamLab is represented by Pace Gallery, Martin Browne Contemporary and Ikkan Art International.

Sports and culture site WAGTI Inc. released the Lucky Cat Tokyo Edition on May 11. The item is part of the Olympic Heritage Collection, an item series officially licensed by the Olympics.

The Lucky Cat Tokyo Edition features designs that fuses the traditional Japanese waving cat with manga. Exclusive to Olympic Heritage, the designs were created by two legends of the manga industry: Leiji Matsumoto who is perhaps best known for Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999, and Yoichi Takahashi who penned the classic Captain Tsubasa.

This high-end art collection is a celebration of iconic moments from the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. It serves as a remembrance of that time, memorialising the Games’ history.

Feel the love from Matsumoto and Takahashi

Tokyo 1964 was a celebration of post-war Japan, a country no longer a wartime enemy, and a perfect opportunity to show its appeal to the world. Not only did Japan as a country see reformations, but sports there did too. Leiji Matsumoto has said that his memory of the Olympics, when he was in his 20’s, is still fresh in mind. He found his joy in the swimming events which are captured in the artwork for his Lucky Cat. Yoichi Takahashi, who released one of the most famous football manga series to the world, created his design in support of the football events in The Olympics and Paralympics. Both cats serve as a symbol of good luck and embody not only Tokyo 1964 but Tokyo 2020 too.

The Nakamura Keith Haring Museum in Yamanashi is set to welcome the Keith Haring: 360° exhibition which will explore the diverse works of American pop artist Keith Haring. The exhibition will run from May 15, 2021 to May 8, 2022.

Keith Haring was an American pop artist whose work began in the 1980’s when he would create spontaneous drawings in the subways of New York City. Haring participated not only in solo exhibitions, but national and international shows too, such as documenta 7 in 1982 and Venice Biennale in 1984. His later works took on more political and societal themes such as drugs, racism, sexuality, and AIDS. Haring died of AIDS-related complications in 1990 at the young age of 31.

Photo by ©︎Makoto Murata

Untitled (Figure Balancing on Dog), 1989

Untitled (KH.200), 1982, The Museum of Art, Kochi

My Town, Peace I–IV, 1987, Tama City Cultural Foundation

Nakamura Keith Haring Collection

One of the most noteworthy appearances at the exhibition is Haring’s Figure Balancing on Dog (1989), a rare sculpture made of raw aluminium. As the title suggests, the piece features a person riding atop a dog, which may be a depiction of balance. It brings to mind the relationship between humans and animals and the anxiety towards a strange society that cannot be measured. Other works will also Untitled (KH.200) (1982), My Town which was drawn by 500 children from Tama, Tokyo, My Town, Peace I–IV (1987), and a series of six drawings entitled Bad Boys (1986) which Haring produced in Amsterdam.

For the first time ever, visitors will be able to see photos taken by Japanese art journalist Makoto Murata who interviewed Haring when visiting New York from December 1982 to January the following year.

The exhibition will look at Keith Haring, his diverse work, and deep messages of society from all angles – a 360° view.

GALLERY COLLAGE is the name of the new contemporary art gallery that recently opened at NIPPONIA Mino Shokamachi, an accommodation housed in a remodelled townhouse that’s situated in a place famous for its mino variant of Japanese washi paper.

1. Raising local value with contemporary art

The world of local culture, such as local business and customs, has been abandoned in favour of rapid economic growth and globalisation. But those halcyon days and their background, which are rooted in their respective local history, culture, and nature, have once again come to be of huge importance to many people. It’s in these times that things like the sounds of insects in the evening that are local to the area should serve as the direction that people move forward in. The artwork showcased at GALLERY COLLAGE will depict scenes familiar to locals to show them in a new light. In doing so, NIPPONIA Mino Shokamachi hopes that connecting contemporary art with washi paper will promote and raise the value of the local traditional industry.

2. Season Lao’s “Mino – blank-leaving” exhibition on show

Contemporary artist and photographer Season Lao is currently holding his Mino – blank-leaving exhibition at the site. He has used his unique approach to utilise mino paper, a type of Japanese washi paper with a history spanning 1,300 years and is also registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Property. An online talk will take place on May 22 hosted by participants of Lao’s photography workshop that was held for the event’s opening. It focuses on photos taken by locals, including pictures from their high school days.

3. Season Lao’s Accommodation Plan

With support from NIPPONIA Mino Shokamachi, the Season Lao Accommodation Plan will see guest rooms decorated in numerous artworks by the artist, and guests will be given a tour of the mino paper factory amongst other exciting things.

The Yusuke Nakamura Exhibition opened at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, on April 29. It was also announced that the Japanese illustrator is releasing the first artbook to compile all of his CD cover art on May 28, but the book can be bought early at the exhibition.

Yusuke Nakamura Exhibition

Yusuke Nakamura Exhibition CD Artworks

Yusuke Nakamura has designed covers forASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Masashi Sada, Spitz, and more

Commentary on the CD covers written by the Yusuke Nakamura himself

Rough sketches are featured in the book

A talk between Yusuke Nakamura and Masafumi Gotoh (ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION)

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Yusuke Nakamura one of Japan’s most prolific artists, having worked with some of the country’s biggest names such as ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Gentouki, Masashi Sada, and more. His new artbook, entitled PLAY, compiles all of his CD covers from 2002-2020, commentary, rough sketches, talks, and more. While many things from the book are explored at the exhibition, there’s plenty of content exclusive to the book too, so it’s a must-grab for fans.

Japanese company Rokuyon, which is responsible for creating a variety of hotel plans in Shibuya including at our own MOSHI MOSHI ROOMS, has launched a new project for guests of various hotels who are fans of brands and artists.

For their first endeavour, Rokuyon has teamed up with Yados Jingumae which has undergone major renovations. Guests staying in Room 202 this spring can enjoy a range of artworks as part of the room’s exclusive Harajuku Night Owl Art Exhibition, while in summertime Room 301 will incorporate furniture by Sekai Class.

Yados Jingumae Room 202: Harajuku Night Owl Art Exhibition

Living room

Bedroom

Artist room

Participating Artists

CHiNPAN | April 23, 2021 – May 30, 2021

CHiNPAN began their career as an oil painter after getting selected at the 2008 Asia Creative Art Exhibition at The National Art Center in Tokyo. They explore the possibilities of oil painting by not limiting themselves to just paper. “Fusion” is the theme of their work which has taken them to creating visuals for shops, fashion, music, and more.

BANBU | June 10, 2021 – July 19, 2021

BANBU is a 24-y-ear-old artist who studied art abroad in Canada and New York after graduating at a vocational school in Japan. Currently based in Tokyo, they create colourful and eye-catching graphics with their three-eyed character.

Hotel Stay x Artists Come Together

“Harajuku Night Owl Art Exhibition” is the theme of Room 202 which will collaborate with different illustrators, video makers, photographers, and other artists every 1-2 months, shining the spotlight on each of their unique visions.

Yados Jingumae Room 301: Sekai Class

Hotel Stay x Furniture

Vintage furniture and artwork from around the world will be brought together in Room 301 so guests can experience a ‘world living’ experience. What’s more is that all of the furniture, art, and items on display will be purchasable, and will change on a fixed schedule.

Felissimo’s vintage daily wear fashion brand MEDE19F released the sixth installment of its art decal series designed by Japanese nail designer Risa Omori on April 19.

The nails are inspired by three paintings of Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh including Sunflowers, Starry Night Over the Rhône, and Almond Blossoms. The line-up includes gold leaf-tipped designs perfect for the vibrant summer season.