The count-down is on for Tokyo's most vibrant art event this year 29-30 Nov 2024

Expect over 100 exhibitors from around the world to take over Belle Salle Roppongi for the 7th 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

29-30 NOVEMBER 2024 | 2024年11月29日～30日

---

Kim Minsu - Gallery Grappe (South Korea)

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.

GALLERY GRAPPE (booth C02) from South Korea will be amongst the 100 international exhibitors. They will exhibit and sell the paintings from artists Kim SoonCheol, Kim MinSu, Jeon DaWha and Lee Na, who are worldwide famous.

SOUTH TRIP GALLERY (booth D03) is the first Chilean Art Gallery oriented to the dissemination, promotion and export of Chilean and Latin American artists in the international art market.

GALLERY ART POINT (booth D05) was established at Ginza in Tokyo with the purpose of promoting artists and expanding contemporary art market in Japan. Since opening in 1969, it has conducted a policy of  presenting a wide range of exhibitions focusing on modern and contemporary art with local artists amongst them Hitoshi Yagi who is known for exploring new visual expressions through collage techniques, with a central theme of “What does a place belong to?”

Hitoshi Yagi - Gallery Art Point (Japan)

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 29th November 2024 from 18:00hr. TICKETS

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 seventh edition of the hugely successful Tokyo International Art Fair, award-winning Sakura Group Curator Ms Tasha 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.

Antonio Marra represented by Carparten Galerie (Germany) Booth D07 & D08

"Big names, among them are Markus Blazaizak, Antonio Marra, and Katrin Sefaj represented by Carparten Galerie (Germany) who will also have an interpreter for the deaf, meaning that any Japanese deaf visitors would understand. 

Heikedine Günther / Switzerland (booth D01)

Heikedine Günther is a Swiss contemporary artist living and working between Basel and Stalden, Switzerland. She is a painter, printer and sculptor who draws on the connection of abstraction and natural forms, and the concepts of microcosm and macrocosm.

José Luis Ramírez from Mexico (booth D04) The artist has developed a successful career, recently recognized in an international exhibition in which he received the "Artventurous & Paramount Art Awards" at the majestic Paramount Hotel in Dubai. His work has appeared in numerous art magazines and books around the world, such as the special edition "Top 200 Collectors" by Artnews Magazine and "The 100 Most Creative Mexicans in the World" by Forbes Mexico.

José Luis Ramírez / Mexico (booth D04)

Paulina’s Friends / Germany (booth C01)

PAULINA'S FRIENDS (booth C01) a sustainable slowfashion avantgarde couture label from Berlin. They connect sustainability and diversity creating a massive positive environmental impact. Zero waste. Unisize, unisex, uniseason. Funky, freaky, edgy wearable art. Unique. Every person is an unique piece of art. Their collections are handmade from couture leftovers/deadstock, vintage fabrics, world heritage fabrics and our own prints. We put real beauty, real people, real diversity in the center of fashion. Humanize and revolutionize the fashion industry and break down stereotypes and beauty standards in terms of age, body size, origin, gender.

Mr. AK (booth C03) is an India born British artist who has showcased in multiple exhibitions in the UK and internationally. He explores the sounds, movements, events around, seizes them forever and brings it to life using colours as if it’s talking to you. His art helps individuals bring their whimsical thinking and quirky behaviour out in open. His approach is to break all the conventional concepts of art in a positive way. In his words ‘My art is and should be a conversational starter’. He has also published his first illustrated book - The Bulbs of London: The Chronicles of Orby.

Mr AK (booth C03)

“Many more international exhibitors 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 Sakura Art Prize Ceremony on Saturday 30th November. The culmination of the event, the Sakura Art Prize 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, Sakura Group who have taken over the event and put the Tokyo International Art Fair on a new high has highlighted some outstanding exhibitors for visitors to must see.

Christine Climent from France (booth 1M05) grew up among the forests, rivers, and castles of the Loire Valley. In the series of paintings created for the TIAF, she used circles of color to evoke the sparkling essence of life and the lightness of living.

RJ Wafer / USA (booth A02)

RJ Wafer from USA (booth A02) is a 360 photographer from Brooklyn, NY. He’s made a career out of bringing new technologies to market, including work with 3D printing, telepresence robotics, VR and AR projects, and for the last 25 years, he’s also taken pictures and shot video for live music. Given his background, 360 photography is the perfect way to capture the images he envisions. RJ orients his shots into tiny planets and prints them on sheet metal to bring out the light. A must see at the Tokyo International Art Fair this year!

Big and Small Art Gallery (booth A21) Philippines

Big and Small Art Gallery (booth A21) Philippines representing MB Pacquing (Filipino b. 1988) was born in Cagayan Valley Philippines. Pacquing's titled work " Immortality" features a complex layering of images and styles, ranging from realism, anatomy organs and abstraction. He views this layering process as a metaphor for the multifaceted inter national identity. MB Pacquing also assume there is 'no such thing' as immortality. In literal terms you are of course correct, but in social terms 'immortality' is rather different.

Furthermore a selection of local Japanese artists will be exhibiting and selling their original artworks such as; Risa Wada Tan, CHIKA TAKEI, Ogasawara Masumi Gallery, MT, and artist Makoto Ambo.

We all welcome you to visit the 7th edition of the Tokyo International Art Fair on Friday 29th November and Saturday 30th November 2024.

You can book your tickets online here: https://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets

---

Dates & Times:
Friday 29th November 2024, 18.00 - 21.00 - Opening - private view by invitation & ticket only. Including Champagne Reception, Private View and Vernissage and DJ Katsuya Everywhere. Tickets available here http://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets

Saturday 30th November 2024, 11.00 - 18.00 - Open to the public, free entrance. Reserve your free ticket online: http://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets

Live painting and the Sakura Art Prize at 17.45. 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

Sakura Group Press Department

info@tokyoartfair.com

---

---

Nate Hester, magic realism and the language of maximalist collage - Tokyo International Art Fair Exhibitor.

Nate Hester - an emerging mid-career, transdisciplinary, diaristic artist from North Carolina in the United States, exhibited widely two decades ago—resurfacing recently at Satellite Art Show concurrent to Art Basel Miami in December 2023 with subsequent exhibits in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Hester’s unapologetic pop-punk, Southern Gothic, magic realism works are included in the permanent collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Allen Memorial Art Gallery at Oberlin College, the Newark Public Library, and the New York Public Library. In the upcoming year, Hester will be in residence at Residency Unlimited (Brooklyn NY), Kolaj Institute (New Orleans LA), Studio Kura (Fukoka, Japan), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst VA) and Chateau Orqueveaux (Troyes, France). He loves fruit pies, the trickle of water over rocks along a creek in any deciduous forest and the memories of his 15 year old son as a young boy.

Hester’s absurd and reverential vision explores the charming if disquieting incongruities of the places, communities and bodies to which we all yearn to belong – in particular, the landscape of the modern home.  In his most recent topo-psychoanalytic, “In Search of Lost Time,” toys, flowers, imaginary avatars, human figures, found objects, and pop culture aphorisms cavort in almost—but never fully— comprehensible ways. The language of maximalist collage is invoked to address the fragmentation and inclusive reintegration of modern living. Hester asserts: “I don’t know about y’all, but my life is a hot-mess-dumpster-fire. Like that Leonard Cohen song about the cracks letting the light in, the beauty for me is how I manage to stitch all the ripped-toshreds pieces back together again.” Here, in the face of the predatory aggression of the adult world in the forms of advanced free market capitalism, neocolonialism and patriarchy, intimate sensuality and soulful tenderness prevail and proclaim that everything belongs to everything. In the face of sadness and “saudade” - the Portuguese concept of nostalgia for the future, Hester’s unapologetic pop-punk, Southern Gothic, magic realism calls forth the curiosity and playfulness of his own inner child, with the explicit hope that it invites audiences to connect to their own native and enduring bliss.

What drives you? 

I exist to expand the scope of human empathy through the expression of the silly sacred.  I care about and am driven by meaningful relationships.  The great thing about drawing from life or observational rendering is that it is always about harmonizing relationships. The way to achieve the correct proportions or tonal gradations is by seeing how things fit together.  I like when the right things fit together in the right way at the right time. In essence, I like creating harmony surprising harmony.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I get inspired by looking at Titian’s Andromeda in the Wallace Collection in London or graffiti in the banlieue train track corridors of Paris, hugging people that I love, reading Wallace Stevens’ “The Idea of Order at Key West,” going out to dinner with raucous friends, hiking to the top of mountains, diving into the ocean, dancing to funk beats and singing outlaw country music at the top of lungs.

If I could have a group exhibit with anyone in the world currently alive, I would want to call it “Sidewalk Shamanism: Contemporary Surrealist. Hip-Hop Protest Textiles” and feature the work of Yinka Shinobare from Nigeria, Nick Cave from Chicago, Joo Young Choi from Houston, Texas and Melissa Monroe from Portland, Oregon. 

What is your life quote/motto?

In Voltaire’s Candide, the naïve religious cleric, Pangloss, is a foil for the author to criticize organized religion at the time of the Enlightenment.  Pangloss routinely says, “Le paradis terrestre est ou je suis.”  This translates as “earthly paradise is wherever I happen to find myself.”  While this was used in mockery and derision as Pangloss would exclaim this in the face of experiencing real human atrocities, I have reappropriated it for my own brand of earnest optimism and devious delight.  In other words, my life motto is “bloom where planted.”  No matter what forces try to pave over you and block out your sunlight, keep pushing your leaves up through the cracks in the sidewalk.

What jobs have you done other than being an artist?

I have been an interfaith hospital chaplain as well as a sports marketer for a cybersecurity company.

Website: https://www.thenatehesterstudio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_is_pretty_sketchy/

"You have to live it to believe it!" Interview with Marc Noël Avatar from Belgium - Tokyo International Art Fair 2024 exhibitor

Marc Noël Avatar was born in Belgium on the 08/04/1962. He is also currently living in Belgium. He is a very passionate and even excentric and out of the norm artist. Who has a major objective to the world where he wants to show and share his paintings all over the world. He has acquired now a reputation that when he comes in physically at one of his exhibitions, people recognize him immediately for who he is, the paintings he will be presenting and also his very out of the box entertaining skills during these exhibitions…

When he was young, a major car accident shifted his life into a completely different dimension from what he had planned. It was then that he began his training "at the Academy of Fine Arts of the Universe." During a long path of rehabilitation, Marc’s therapist understood very quickly that the patient he had in front of him was not a “standard” patient, and thus, this professional has been able to go outside of all his classic rehabilitation techniques with his patient. Together they completed a magnificent therapeutic path, which allowed Marc Noe l to, first, gain the ability to hold a pencil again between his fingers, through which the first achievements were the drawing of completely closed circles. Through his motivation, determination, and self-teaching, Marc Noe l progressed through drawing, pastels, Japanese calligraphy, and painting, eventually recovering full control over his hands. Always looking to push boundaries, he realized that traditional artistic expression felt limited. This led to a mystical opportunity where his painting became guided by another dimension, giving birth to his quantum paintings. The paintings he creates today are not just paintings but are very powerful evolving tools which, through time and the observer who stands in front of them, will create an opportunity for an “out of the norm” encounter between the quantum painting and the observer. These are now quantum paintings that change every day for the observer, even though the painting is not modified physically, because the quantum painting adapts itself in what it shows according to the evolution of the observer. He also teaches quantum painting to people, whether they have had or have not had academic training in painting, to make them live and experience “the painting” from a completely different point of view, or to dare enter into the feeling of the creation of the painting, and even become their painting. All the people who already have had the chance to acquire one of his quantum paintings have all experienced an evolution, from when they first saw their canvas, and day after day, as well as a change in their quantum painting and in the feeling that they had with their quantum painting. Today Marc Noe l also presents his paintings to the whole world in physical, digital and online exhibitions, and also on other media platforms, such as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), videos, etc., so that everyone who wants it can benefit from these very powerful tools

Every single time when a curator, a journalist, a gallery owner and even another artist is seeing my art on a physical exhibition or even digital exhibition, they are always intrigued.

Once journalist said from my work: “Mr. Noël, one thing is for sure… nobody will never be able to copy your artwork… not even with artificial intelligence !”

Every single exhibition that I have being presenting to the world have created with every observer/visitor a lot of questions because they “felt” things that their brain could not identify through a certain norm.

The uniqueness of my art is that first it has to be felt. Once the observer has made that connection with my canvas, with his eyes closed, he can open his eyes and invite them to discover one area of the canvas and caresses through his view every single relief… knowing that each one of my paintings are created through a hundreds of reliefs…

Also, I am a very passionate artist and so for me using a lot of very powerful and bride colors is a personal signature of who I am. Even the way I am “merging” colors is very intriguing. Once a curator shared with me that I was able to combine some colors that he had never seen been done by other artists.

You have to live it to believe it!

How would you describe yourself? And your artwork? What drives you?

Pure Passion ! In everything I do I am bringing in pure passion, and through that I am able to live every single second of my life the most beautiful things that I could not even imagine… And that gives me even more passion and drive !

Where do you see your art going in ten years?

Couple of years ago I decided to share my paintings all over the world. Since then, I have been participating in a lot of exhibitions. As well physical as digital exhibitions.

There where it fits into my planning, I honor the visitors of the exhibition with my physical presence. Because I know that people love to meet me face to face and of course I love to meet them too.

I have noticed that the popularity of my artwork grows day by day, week by week, month by month, and even year by year. I am also aware that my paintings are not just “paintings”, they are very powerful tools that are transforming people. So many people have already expressed verbally and also in writings how seeing and also owning one of my paintings has completely changed their life in a very positive way.

So in 10 years time, I see the impact of my art being something that will have influenced exponentially humanity…

I know my artwork is finished when…?

One of my foundations I have learned, practiced and integrated is the practice of Shodo, Japanese calligraphy. For me practicing this art has never been putting something on a canvas…

It has always been and still is practicing “the breath of the Dragon” …

So when I stand in front of a completely new blank virgin canvas… I present myself in a very humble way to it and I request for the permission to get in contact with the canvas. When I feel that I have been accepted and I have received the authorization from the canvas, I choose also a brush that is presenting himself to participate in this creation. And then of course all the abundance of colors that are in my environment where I am going to create this painting starts to sing and to breathe in the rhythm like an orchestra which are tuning all the instruments to start a magnificent “creation” …

And then breath after breath and stroke after stroke, the painting is created and is manifested on the canvas… until this beautiful symphony of breaths and strokes merging with colors onto the canvas and comes to an end in a complete silence…

That is where my creation of this canvas is DONE!

What other hobbies do you have?

I choose this question because it is a very very funny one when people ask me “what are your hobbies”?

Why? As I am a very passionate person, I have developed hobbies already very early in my life and until today I have just been adding up more and more hobbies…

Every hobby that I have, I am still practicing with a lot of passion in the time frame that is available for me in my day-to-day planning. Very often people ask me how it is possible for me to do all these activities as well professionally as personally in a 24hours day period?

The answer is that I have learned to be “very time management efficient”. So, I will share with you some of my hobbies so that you have a taste of how passionate through my hobbies I am.

First, I would like to mention that I practice 7 different types of martial arts that I started when I was 7 years old. For me martial art is something that has created a foundation of my life and I am still living in a true way of “Bushido”.

I am also a very passionate long-distance runner which gives me always that opportunity to go in a very deep state of meditation during my long runs.

I am also a very passionate alpinist and rock climber which gives me that opportunity to be always very focused in being aware that every foot step that I make, every grip that I make with each one of my hands have to be perfect because my life depends on it. I am also a deep sea diver and rescue diver, it is a passion that grew early in my life because I always been one with the water, and once I grew I wanted to explore also the depths of water through special diving gear equipment. And through that I felt the need also to become a rescue diver so that I could help people in need at those depths.

Another passion of mine is to drive motorbikes and sport cars on circuit, a hobby that brings me also the opportunity to work on my focus through high speed on 2 wheels and on 4 wheels. Another hobby of mine is the art of archery, again a magnificent tool for me to work on my focus, being in the present moment, and become the arrow and travelling with it until he has reached his target.

Another passion of mine is to play the Taiko drum, Japanese drum, that for me is much much more than just a percussion instrument. Every single time I strike with my “bachi” on my Taiko, it is like a heartbeat, a breath of life, a creation into the Universe. Communication in all his forms is also a hobby of mine, that I am able to practice, to teach into seminars and on one to one encounters. For me the art of communication is a day-to-day tool that I practice every single moment.

And I could of course continue much much longer on this topic but I am sure that the reader has already have a view how passionate I am through my hobbies.

Have you ever had a spiritual happening?

I have been very lucky in my life that I have so far had a lot of spirituals happenings/ awakenings.

But one I would like to share here is the one that changed my life overnight. When I was 26, I had a very major car accident that make me live a near death experience and a very long revalidation period. This experience brought me even to the big question that I had on that moment: “Would I like to continue to live a normal life with a job, a wife, a child or live the rest of my life as a Tibetan monk?” And I went into a very deep “introspection” and finally found the answer to this question…

I could live both and that’s what I did. It changed my life a lot but the major advantage is that through this spiritual happening, I am now a very good businessman, and I am still able to live fully into science and merge at the same time in the most freeing spiritual and energetical dimension and share it and teach it to the world.

And I enjoy every single moment of it.

If you would be on your death bed what advice would you give to people?

This is such a beautiful question but even that I am still not on my death bed… I would like give people already this advice today…

First, enjoy every single moment in your life… every moment that is gone, is gone… so make sure that when you see that that moment is gone, that you have no regrets on that “gone moment”!

Second, I would like to advice people that they make themselves aware, and also to every child that is walking on this earth, to look very deep inside of them and look for that very special light that is telling them who they are. And then, that they dare to approach that light, go into a deep communication with that light, and being fulfilled with it.

Third, I would advice them to look around them, wherever they live in the world, and look of what “the norm” is, look at that norm and see if they are compatible with it…?

If they would feel that they are not compatible with it, I would advice them of not going into resistance, and I would advice them to look for a way to transform this norm in something that is compatible with who they are today… and then eventually from there, share it and maybe teach it to others!

Fourth, if you really committed in something in this life, you should use this sentence for yourself and for others : “I will do whatever it takes, no matter what to succeed !”

And finally, I would advice them don’t judge themself and don’t judge others and your life will become much much easier. And then, before I will close my eyes definitely I will ask myself this question, the question that I have asked myself every single time before I was sleeping in since my childhood: “Did I do everything that I had to do today in all my knowledges and my competencies to make this world a better place ?” and the answer will be as it has been every single night when I was sleeping in : “YES !”

Why do you do what you do?

This is a very simple question for which I have a very simple answer. I do what I do because I am unable not doing it…

Every single breath that I take is a gift that I received from the Universe and so it is my duty and commitment to this world that every time I have been granted through this breathing in, that in every breathing out I am giving back something to the world and to the Universe. So it is a very natural and automatic process for me, the things that I do, there is no mental process involved in what I am doing…

I do what I do… Just because I AM WHO I AM.

CONNECT WITH MARC:

Website url: https://mapeinturequantique-fushigina.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naturopathe.glinne.anais

Come and see and buy Marc’s artwork at the 7th edition of the Tokyo International Art Fair.

GET TICKETS

SAKURA GROUP puts Tokyo International Art Fair on a new high!

After six successful editions of the Tokyo International Art Fair the Sakura Group is taking over and puts the TIAF 2024 on an even bigger high. The Group has organised hundreds of art and culture events mainly in Japan, but also overseas. The team are expertise in combining the pleasure of art and culture to the Japanese art collecting audience.

Expect a new and diverse art trade show open to artists and galleries worldwide.

6回の東京国際アートフェアの成功を受けて、さくらグループが引き継ぎ、TIAF 2024をさらに盛り上げます。当グループは、主に日本国内だけでなく海外でも数百件の芸術文化イベントを主催してきました。ターシャ・ベルが運営するチームは、日本の美術品を収集する観客に芸術と文化の楽しさを融合させる専門知識を持っています。

世界中のアーティストやギャラリーが参加できる、新しくて多様なアート見本市にご期待ください。

グローバルアートエージェンシー主催 TOKYO†INTERNATIONAL†ART†FAIR

グローバルアートエージェンシー主催

TOKYO†INTERNATIONAL†ART†FAIR

２０１９年6⽉７・８⽇

グローバルアートエージェンシーが主催する『TOKYO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR』

が開催されます。東京では5回⽬となる本フェアは、⾔語や⽂化をこえ、アートを通じて

国際交流をするための祭典として、世界40ヶ国以上から150名を超える参加アーティストが、

⼀堂に会し、⾄極の空間で様々な素材や技法を⽤いた現代アートを展⽰します。絵画・彫刻・

写真・イラストなど、さまざまな現代アートが楽しめる同アートフェアではアーティストと

コレクターが直接取引ができるとても貴重でユニークなイベントとなっています。

TOKYO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 開催概要

⽇程：2019年6⽉7⽇（⾦）18:00〜21:00

オープニングセレモニー・プレスイベント（要予約）

チケット：1,500 円 チケットはこちら http://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets

2019年6⽉8⽇（⼟）11:00〜18:00

⼀般公開 ⼊場無料

ライブペインティング・アート作品展⽰・販売・授賞式

会場：Belle Salle Roppongi

〒106-0032 東京都港区六本⽊7 −18−18 住友不動産六本⽊通ビル1F

公式URL: http://www.tokyoartfair.com/

主催:グローバルアートエージェンシ

【お問い合せ】 Joëlle Dinnage + 44 7825 443925 office@globalartagency.com

Jun Ueda + 81 80 6304 7000

The count-down is on for Tokyo's most vibrant art event this year

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

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.

Harry Arling

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

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

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.

Michele Righetti

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.

Andrei Tunikov

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

Florencia Zampieri composing her dynamic world at the Tokyo International Art Fair

Florencia Zampieri (22nd March 1973) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since she was a little girl she used to spend her time painting and drawing. She was inspired by all kind of art expressions, so, while she was studying at primary school she started dancing Classic and Contemporary Dance as a hobby. When she finished school she became a Dance teacher at only 17 years old.

Her passion and love to all artistic expressions, inspired her to study Architecture and then Image and Visual Merchandising. In 1998 she graduated from The Buenos Aires University of Architecture and Urbanism.

When she was 24 years old, she started as a University Design Professor and she introduced her self into Habitat Theory Investigation.

Florencia studied different art expression with few teachers that gave her a solid basement to continue her career. Abstract, collage, colours, acrylic, oils, pencils, papers, textures are her tools to compose her dynamic world.

This is a Q & A with Florencia Zampieri, exhibitor at the Tokyo International Art Fair 2018.

Q: How would you describe yourself? And your artwork?
A: My artwork reflects what I am, a Woman in Movement. 

Q: What drives you? 
A: The pleasure that gives the power of art creation, play with colours and textures.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration?
A: Images, photos, traveling…life experiences, moments, topics…

Q: Where do you see your art going in ten years?
A: Trascending new frontiers, in constantly movement. 

Q: I know my artwork is finished when?
A: When I feel satisfied

Q: Best exhibition ever participated in?
A: The Next One!

Q: Would love to exhibit my work in?
A: No limits

Website: www.visualwork.com.ar

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visual.work/

Stephen Hawking inspired art, and a Dalai Lama SUMO-sized surprise at the Tokyo International Art Fair 2018 - Press Release English Version

The city of Tokyo will be playing host to hundreds of talented artists from all around the world when it stages the fourth edition of the Tokyo International Art Fair on 25-26 May 2018, Bellesalle Roppongi. More than 100 exhibitors from over 30 countries will be filling the prime located venue with an incredible display of art, with more pieces than ever before gathered under one roof for visitors to admire and to buy in the city’s largest Artist showcase of modern and contemporary art.

This year, the organisers Global Art Agency joined forces with BELLESALLE Roppongi to host the fourth Tokyo International Art Fair - yet again expecting thousands of art loving visitors and huge sales. Roppongi (六本木, literally "six trees") is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous for the affluent Roppongi Hills development area which includes the famous Mori Art Museum.

Organisers Joëlle Dinnage and her business partner Natal Vallvé from the Global Art Agency are making the fantastic (free) two-day art extravaganza a versatile art happening for the locals of Tokyo. A huge variety of artworks, offering every visitor something to suit their style, all in an affordable price-range to buy and to take home on the day. "We are extremely happy with the new venue, it will be another spectacle." they said.

On show will be paintings, sculptures, photography art, illustrations, printmaking, and jewellery, with a live painting and music show at the event.

“Almost 10,000 people visited the event last year, connections were made, and great sales happened, so everyone was extremely satisfied. There was no doubt to continue and build on the success of the previous editions. We have worked very hard to get a brilliant new venue in one of Tokyo's hotspots attracting art aficionado's from all over the world, and partnering up with The Wall Street Journal has been a great bonus too!" said organiser Joëlle Dinnage.

"We have new talent exhibiting this year as well as some known names, some of them exhibited also with us last year, and of course there are the famous names such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Pure Evil and works by Takashi Marukami"

HIGHLIGHTS:

TASCHEN (Japan) will be exhibiting a World Heritage landmark, this SUMO-sized publication presents the most precious surviving murals of Tibetan Buddhist culture.  For the first time, these astonishing and intricate masterpieces can be appreciated in blazing color and life-size resolution. Signed by his Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, coming with a bookstand designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect  Shigeru Ban. 

DisQuiet Gallery (Singapore). There are elusive beasts, and they are called mental illnesses. DisQuiet, an art collective comprising 4 Singaporean artists, aims to create awareness on them. The apparent clash of artistic styles is to tell the narrative that anyone, no matter how different, can succumb to the fragility of the mind. And within each artist’s collection, the pieces depict how the artist views the torment that the sufferers have to go through.

GArtGallery (Russia) is a Moscow-based gallery will be creating a special story in order to present arts in an unusual form with a new conceptual reading at the Tokyo International Art Fair.

Keiko Imaizumi (Canada) will be showing positive enlightened prints presented with LED light backing with a Japanese natural frost motive which reflects the sincerity of the nature of Japan.

Franco The Creator (UK) his creative philosophies are united by eternal values and REVIVAL of spirituality, and serve as an impetus to reconnect with a mode of life most of us have only ever heard about. This driving power that motivates Franco's search for EMOTIONAL TRUTH. He believes that color and geometry can greatly affect how we perceive this meaning. Geometry questions shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space... it almost sounds if Stephen Hawkins had an influence on his works.

Cuen Gallery (Mexico) Expect conceptual design from artist Ramon Jimenez Cardenas creating objects and sculpture pieces. His typologies and materials seen in objects are often derived from design insights seen in his hometown Oaxaca, Mexico. These insights are mostly seen in architectural structures which carry narrative and a graphic language of their own. 

Christopher Parker (USA) Ever heard of ArtLampoons? Well this is your chance to see them... Rice paper lanterns with watercolour, gouache, pen and glycerin.

WOW Art Gallery (HK) Kaya believes that art and design share an inseparable relationship with limitless possibilities. The creative process is a cycle in which people continuously transform, edit and improve the concept, where the purpose is to create creativity in the hope of achieving self-actualization.

Christina Jin (USA) originally comes from New Zealand and she believes our purest form of emotion are in the moments. Those emotion is the most honest, natural and emphatic. She wants to keep that entrance of memory, no matter she goes back or not. Christina always carries her easel wherever she goes. Painting for her is to capture the natural first-hand reaction to her encounters, the thrill and the fear and the realization of her adventure.

And also watch out for EStYLE Art Gallery (Taiwan), ABU Gallery (Guinea-Bissau), Manu Algueró, Suzi Nassif.

Best Artist Award Oxford International Art Fair 2018:

Bogdan Mihai Radu, a Romanian artist whose works spoke volumes at the entrance to the Oxford International Art Fair. On an immense scale that’s immersive, Bogdan’s abstracted expressionism is bold and striking, dense with mood and emotion telling a story of his life, a traumatic episode and a challenging psychological state with which Bogdan worked through in these paintings. ‘I cannot live without painting,’ says Bogdan, ‘because it’s only when I paint that I feel truly alive.’ He is thrilled to have won this award, and will be exhibiting at TIAFA 2018 with pride to show his works to the Asian collectors.

Local Highlights:

AYA Gallery (Japan) Finding inspiration in nature, visualising colours, shapes and lines that feel warm and vibrant. In this exhibition, AYA deal with Japanese agricultural landscapes.

Generative Art Studio (Japan) Expect unpredictable artworks created by programming, 3DCG, MotionGraphics. Without listening to the sound, producing music... it's an experience!

Colleen Sakurai (Japan) Her artistic goal is to keep things simple. Shapes and forms that reveal and accentuate the undulating beauty of the material. 

Also keep a look out for Hiroko Saigusa (Japan), A&S Group (Japan) that have work on from Alex Einbinder and Sachiko Shigeta.

These artists are among the more than 112 showing their work at this year’s fair, which takes place on May 25 and 26. The event aims to showcase both rookie and veteran artists, as well as create chances for networking and buying the art on display.

As the fair runs on two days, it will also be split into private and public viewings. First up is the private, which costs ¥1,500. That provides potential buyers with first pick of the art on offer and includes a serving of Champagne. The public viewing is free, but a lot of people are expected to show up: the inaugural Tokyo International Art Fair last year welcomed more than 10,000 guests.

Dates & Times:
Friday 25th May 2018 : 18.00pm - 21.00pm
Including Champagne Reception, Private View and first opportunity to buy art.

Saturday 26th May 2018 : 11.00am - 19.00pm
Live painting, Buy Art Show, Global Art Awards Ceremony (18.00pm) FREE ENTRY

Tickets: Available here

Venue: BELLESALLE ROPPONGI. Japan, 〒106-0032 Tokyo, Minato, Roppongi, 7 Chome−18−18, 住友不動産六本木通ビル

Website: www.tokyoartfair.com