2025

[Judge]Kazunobu Abe
I have been keeping an eye on this artist for some time, so I am delighted that he has submitted this work. The level of completion of his work is backed by solid technique and knowledge of art history. His concept as an artist must have been established through his long experience abroad. He has a sense of time that those living in the modern age can have, and a story that is full of originality. I felt that he has established a world of work that is full of the elements required of contemporary art. The three pieces in this competition are painted on the theme of space flight, set in the Apollo program, and although they are a series, each piece is a complete work in itself, and I felt that they are full of appeal, as they are filled with modernity, the artist’s respect for traditional beauty, and the artist’s own dreams and messages.

 “AFAF AWARD powered by E.SUN BANK” Audience Award

site: Shibayama Art Gallery
2-1-2 Negishi, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0003, Japan

Shibayama Art Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Yuki Ideguchi. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, Ideguchi has been based in New York and has exhibited his works in various countries around the world. He currently works from his studio in Kyoto, creating truly unique pieces that fuse traditional Japanese painting with elements of ukiyo-e—such as the works of Katsushika Hokusai—alongside sōgen-ga and street art.
In this exhibition, held in advance of ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2025, we will showcase more than ten works, including new pieces.

ライブパフォーマンス：5月10日、11日　午後2時から約30分

 

2025年は韓日国交正常化60周年という重要な節目を迎えます。この機会は、両国間の交流と協力の歴史を振り返り、未来の友好関係を強化する機会でもあります。本展覧会は、ポップアートというジャンルを通じて、韓国と日本の文化を視覚的に比較し、両国の共通するアイデンティティや相互理解を探ることを目的としています。

ポップアートは、親しみやすい言語を通じてアートと生活を結びつける特性を持ち、現代の消費文化、伝統と現代性の融合、技術とアートの境界を探求します。本展覧会は、ポップアートを通じて両国間の芸術的共感を形成し、相互の文化的特性を尊重しつつ、それらを一つの視覚的プラットフォームに表現することで、韓日文化交流の新たな可能性を探求することを目指しています。

On the Moon-Puromethus,53×45.5cm,2025

My series of works combines traditional Japanese painting with contemporary ideas, exploring the theme of “time and scenery that connects the past and the present”.

The title of this exhibition is “Fly Us to The Moon,” inspired by the famous song by Frank Sinatra. On September 12, 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he said, “We choose to go to the Moon.” Humans landed on the Moon for the first time in July 1969 with the success of the Apollo 11 mission. Although we still cannot live on the Moon, I imagined a world where we live on the Moon and in space, and created my work based on that image.

In Japanese painting, landscapes often include elements like mountains, rivers, and the moon, which have long been favored subjects. Furthermore, in both Japan and China, landscape painting has not only depicted real scenery since ancient times. Landscape painting became associated with “immortal philosophy,” leading to the portrayal of “utopias” and “imaginary landscapes.” I have layered the concept of an ideal realm with an idea of the unseen universe and am depicting space as a ” contemporary landscape painting.”

The technique of painting on silk using ink, animal glue, shell white, and mineral pigments is a traditional Japanese painting method. By using this classical technique to depict space, I aim to symbolize the connection between the past and present through my unique vision of painting.