We are pleased to announce that from Friday, December 5 to Saturday, December 20, 2025, gallery UG Tennoz will host a solo exhibition by Kenichi OBANA.
Gallery UG is pleased to present OBANA Kenichi’s「Stop for a moment」exhibition.
OBANA was born in 1981 in Gunma prefecture. In 2006, he completed his graduate art course in the Oil Painting Program at Tsukuba University and has since then actively held solo exhibitions, art fairs and shown his art at art festivals in both Japan and overseas.
He is currently based in Akita where he continues to create art.
While reflecting on people’s livelihood, tradition, local landscapes, and history, he creates drawings and sculptures based on the characters and stories he creates within himself.
The unknown masked men who appear in Obana’s art are less like heroes and more like villains. Minor characters that have a small role in the main story. They were never meant to be protagonists yet they quietly go about their normal lives. Happily laughing with friends, crying about unfulfilled dreams and getting angry at things that can’t be helped. Though their stories are never untold, surely each of them lives with his own small happiness and sense of fulfillment.
Their clumsy, earnest way of living is, in itself, deeply compelling.
In the「Stop for a moment」exhibition, new pieces of art will be displayed alongside pieces that have previously been exhibited only once.
As mentioned, Obana often creates art rooted in the context and history of a specific place, and we had thought that setting them in a disconnected setting would be difficult. So we hope that by reconfiguring the works in a setting different from before, new stories can be created.
We warmly invite you to take this opportunity to view the exhibition.
For this exhibition titled「Stop for a moment」it includes not only my new pieces of art but also pieces previously shown in the past.
Although I felt hesitant about presenting these pieces of art again, seeing the gallery’s spacious, pure white environment somehow lifted that hesitation and made me feel at ease.
In this exhibition, I aim to overlook my art from the past few years, while also exploring how they appear when displayed in a space deliberately disconnected from any specific land or history.
I hope this exhibition will serve as a brief pause in my practice, allowing for a moment of reflection and paving the way for new developments.
OBANA Kenichi.
【OBANA Kenichi】
1981 - Born in Gunma, Ota City.
2004 - Graduated from Tsukuba University of Art and Design in Western Art
2006 - Completed Graduate Art Course in the Oil Painting Program at Tsukuba University
Recent major exhibitions include: 「Now Shibuya」Hikarie Wall Art Project (Shibuya Hikarie, 2025), 「Ghost: When the Invisible Visible」 (Arts Maebashi, 2025), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2024 (2024, Tokamachi City), Aichi Triennale 2022 (2022, Tokoname City), Setouchi Triennale 2022 (2022, Tadotsu Town), and VOCA 2021 (2021, Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo).
Awards include the Jomo Arts and Culture Prize (2022), VOCA Prize (2021), Tokyo Midtown Award Excellence Award (2015), and LUMIN meets ART AWARD Runner-up (2014).
We are pleased to announce that Junko ASANO’s solo exhibition "有縁Time〜Connected Memories〜" will be held at Lutra Gallery in Shanghai from Sunday, November 16, 2025, to Sunday, January 18, 2026.
「有縁 UEN」is having a connection between people, things or a moment. A bond or connection of some kind.
As I prepare to hold my first solo exhibition in Shanghai, I felt as if I was guided by wonderful connections which is how the word「Uen」came to mind.
My artwork primarily focuses on anthropomorphic animals standing together with buildings.
Why animals, you ask?
As an adult, the memories of when I was a child looking at goats, sheep, deers and ducks at the farm in my neighborhood came back to me. The cute faces of the animals, unique expressions and how they comfortably spent their time at the meadows. Those nostalgic memories are the origin of my art.
Additionally, by having the animals be anthropomorphic, I believe that it allows anyone to emotionally connect with them regardless of age, gender or race.
A world of fantasy that was inspired by everyday life. Funny scenes that gradually grow. I hope that you enjoy imagining the stories that lie beyond each piece and find your own special connection with them.
gallery UG is pleased to present “Featured Artist: Keitoku Toizumi” at gallery UG Fukuoka (Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin) from November 12 (Wed) to December 9 (Tue), 2025.
Keitoku Toizumi is an artist who brings the textures of reality to his imagined worlds.
Despite the colorful and pop-inspired motifs that characterize his work, the overall impression of each piece evokes a striking sense of stillness.
His stoic dedication to realism, his sincere engagement with themes of life and death, and the inherent dignity found within his artworks all contribute to his unique presence.
We invite you to take this opportunity to experience his exceptional work.
From November 29, 2025 (Sat) to January 10, 2026 (Sat), a two-person exhibition by Ryosuke KAWAHIRA and Nobuko NUMANO, titled “MADOROMI”, will be held at iart gallery in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.
"Connecting artworks to people, connecting people to each other through art."
galleryUG are always there for our artists.
We will grow together with the artists and support them from production to promotion.
We aim to further enrich and expand the contemporary art scene by proposing the ideal way for galleries to be.
In moments when I feel like I’m in a place independent of my surroundings,
I sometimes feel like I’m in a different time and space.
The feeling is like clouds or smoke that change shape with no regard for time
that people have to live by, and it also feels like a space of my own.
To turn, various scenes that came up in my imagination from things I encountered.
To express freedom, time and desires that are on the verge of being discarded from memory.
That is what is important, in order for me to be me and for a person to be them self.
2F TERRADA ART COMPLEX Ⅱ, 1-32-8, Higashishinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
8 minutes walk from Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit Rinkai Line(Exit B)
11 minutes walk from Tokyo Monorail Haneda Airport Line Tennozu Isle Station(Central Exit)
3F TERRADA ART COMPLEX Ⅱ, 1-32-8, Higashishinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
8 minutes walk from Tennozu Isle Station on the Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit Rinkai Line(Exit B)
11 minutes walk from Tokyo Monorail Haneda Airport Line Tennozu Isle Station(Central Exit)
This is a production studio for exclusive artists of gallery UG, which will open in 2020. It was built to approach and support artists from a long-term perspective.
