Expect over 100 exhibitors to take over Belle Salle Roppongi for the 5th Edition of Tokyo's must-see art event!
東京インターナショナルアートフェア
07-08 JUNE 2019 | 2019年6月7日-8日
“Ice Cream” by Ron English
Ron English's POPaganda is one of the headliners of the 5th edition of the Tokyo International Art Fair 2019. English's Cereal Killers and other characters from his renowned POPaganda art will be bursting onto the Toyko art scene next month when one of the world's most prolific and recognisable artists takes centre stage at the Tokyo International Art Fair.
English, famous for his signature mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, joins other leading artists and galleries from around the globe making for the fifth edition of the city's must-see art event.
Set in the stunning Belle Salle Roppongi, just a stone's throw from the Mori Art Museum, the Tokyo International Art Fair brings together under one roof some of the most exciting and challenging artwork ever seen in the city.
More than 100 artists and galleries will take part, transforming Tokyo's artistic landscape. Art collectors and enthusiasts alike will get a one-off opportunity to view the wide range of art on show, talk to the artists to learn what inspired them and buy unique art for their home, workspace or garden. They can also enjoy an exclusive preview by attending a champagne private view when the art fair opens its doors on the evening of Friday 7th June.
Paintings, sculpture, photography, illustrations, jewellery and bespoke crafts created using a wealth of different media and techniques are just some of the artworks at the two day event, with each artist carefully selected for the calibre, style and individuality of their work.
In launching the fifth edition of the hugely successful Tokyo International Art Fair, Joëlle Dinnage of the award-winning Global Art Agency says, "This year's event will be a highlight on the vibrant Tokyo art scene, bringing a spectacular collection of contemporary work from established as well as emerging artists from across the globe – exhibitors from over 23 countries including many from Europe and Asia. I am thrilled to see a lot of Pop Art style work this year, which I am sure the local people will also be excited with.
Damien Hirst
“Gato Samuray” by TOT (Colombia) represented by HighArtGallery (Japan)
"Big names, among them Ron English represented by APPortfolio (China), Cho, Hui-Chin (Taiwan), Gallery 21 (Japan), Damien Hirst represented by Dutch Curator and many more, will be there, so the quality and the sheer diversity of the work on show will be outstanding. We want to fill the city with colour and get everyone talking about and buying art. The event will inspire and enrich everyone who steps foot through the door."
Alongside the art on show, the fair will feature live painting, also live music by DJ ‘Katsuya Everywhere’, expect Geisha’s to pour champagne on the opening evening, and there is the chance for every visitor to attend the Global Art Awards Ceremony on Saturday 8th June. The culmination of the event, the Global Art Awards recognise and acknowledge the hard work of all artists and galleries taking part, singling out one overall winner and two runners-up for particular praise.
In the meantime, Dinnage and her team has picked out her personal selection for must-see work this year:
Padi Faraji
An abstract artist originally from Iran now based in Japan, Faraji takes her inspiration from nature, in particular the ocean. Designs, colours and textures of layers upon layers with dramatic movements often play out in her works. Paint is not just a colouring material; by applying paint layer by layer, the artist creates a sculptural expression.
Dutch artist Arling creates Kosmotronics, works of art made from plastic waste. It's the Art of Alchemy, where the discarded, unwanted and waste of a consumer society is transformed into the dreams of the child in us all, in the fantastical and beautiful. Colour lifts the spirit and detail delights the eye. The mechanical whimsical; the joyous unreal made solid.
Cho, Hui-Chin
A resist-destiny female artist from Taiwan suffering from the distorted world who enjoys creating distorted artworks. Her grotesque yet serene artworks explore the existence between life and death, investigate the darkest humanities and reveal the fetish. She works across painting and sculpture and with deeply symbolic materials, explaining their association with "life once lived".
Jatin Khan
Khan's (India) art focuses on the fundamental commonality of all humanity, specifically emotion, evolution and ascension. It simultaneously aims to transcend all concepts of regionalism, stereotype herd culture and societal programming, with a unique unrepeatable quality. Each work is a different experience in itself aimed at evoking pure emotion, carrying its own unique energy signature. https://www.instagram.com/jatinkhanart/
UWA
The Indonesian artist's work is a continuous tour between our inner landscape towards our idea of “light”, our very nature of existence in this present universe. It’s about the portrayal of your own ‘bigger’ or higher self, God according to your own image, across the portal, digging through dimensions. Surrounded with ice, maybe water, a spectrum of colours not yet known to earth standing beyond him, the one who always guides him, his own future self.
Alexander Yaya, Crisolart Galleries (Barcelona, Spain)
A prominent representative of the so-called “highbrow” art movement, largely focused on figurative and abstract sculpture and painting, Yaya's works are distinguished by organic forms and spectacular colours that create a harmonious balance between nature and human. The artist is prone to decorativeness; his works work equally well as monumental graffiti on the wall of a house or a stylish fabric print.
Singapore-based painter and sculptor Michele Righetti is an incisive contemporary thinker of art able to master inter-disciplinary techniques and styles through paintings, sculpture and graphics. A unique and fascinating imaginary world is celebrated through artworks telling stories deeply rooted within life experiences, memories, culture and fascination for nature elements.
Ron English, APPortfolio, China
One of the most prolific and recognisable artists alive today, Ron English has bombed the global landscape with unforgettable images, on the street, in museums, in movies, books and TV. He coined the term POPaganda to describe his signature mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, from superhero mythology to totems of art history, populated with his vast and constantly growing arsenal of original characters.
Araki Nobuyoshi
The 3D sculpture is a handmade, hand-painted ceramic based on Araki’s childlike drawing in his publication Dotei Datcho-Kun, 1995. The elephant artwork DELON KUN presents a symbol of a man, showing when several men compete to win the best woman first. However, they are so fiercely competitive that they cannot move together and finally all fail and show a state of sagging, just like human sexuality and physiology.
Striving to convey dynamics and character through plastics, Tunikov turned to the image of birds and discovered an amazing world of their feelings and emotions. His choice is migratory birds forced to move around in search of warm places for hunting and propagation. The artist emphasises and expresses this life path full of discoveries, challenges and victories, reflecting the details of anatomical and physical resemblance to life.
The Tokyo International Art Fair takes place on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June 2019.
Dates & Times:
Friday 7th June 2019, 18.00 - 21.00 - Opening - private view by invitation & ticket only. Including Champagne Reception, Private View and Vernissage sponsored by Wall Street Journal and DJ Katsuya Everywhere. Tickets available here http://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets
Saturday 8th June 2019, 11.00 - 18.00 - Open to the public, free entrance.
Live painting and the Global Art Awards Ceremony at 17.00. Pre-book tickets here http://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets
Venue:
BELLE SALLE Roppongi
Japan, 〒106-0032 Tokyo, Minato, Roppongi, 7 Chome−18−18, 住友不動産六本木通ビル
For more information about the Tokyo International Art Fair, please go to: www.tokyoartfair.com
ENDS
Press contacts:
Sarah Pracey + 44 7985 112 777 / sarah@praceypr.com
or
Joëlle Dinnage + 44 7825 443925
office@globalartagency.com
Araki Nobuyoshi | Japan