gallery UG is pleased to announce its participation in Japan’s largest art fair, ART FAIR TOKYO 20.
This year, our presentation will focus on Takaoki TAJIMA.
His solo presentation at ART FAIR TOKYO marks his first in three years, since 2023.
At first glance, TAJIMA’s works appear light and caricature-like in tone.
Yet his practice extends far beyond mere humor or provocation.
Beginning from the question, “How does the world appear to us?”, TAJIMA has consistently translated modes of perception into sculpture, painting, and language.
This presentation focuses on how satire—central to this act of translation—operates within his work.
We are pleased to introduce a new body of works that, while cloaked in humor, ultimately arrive at something universal.
We would be honored by your visit to the fair.
We look forward to welcoming you.
gallery UG
—
"Beside the Seal"
I went to the aquarium.
A seal was standing upright.
I called my daughter.
“Stand next to it,” I said.
When she was little,
she would have run over happily,
smiled, posed,
and asked me to take another photo.
Now it is different.
She looks slightly reluctant.
But she still stands beside the seal.
Watching her, I feel a warmth rise in the back of my throat,
and at the same time, an odd laugh escapes me.
Because I can see
“the daughter she once was”
and “the daughter she is now”
at the same time.
She already has her own world.
Yet that day, she responded to my “Let’s take a photo.”
With a reluctant expression,
and still, she stood beside the seal.
That small act of compliance
somehow felt like a quiet premonition of parting.
It is strangely joyful,
and strangely lonely.
I took the photograph.
And wanting to remember it for a long time,
I painted it.
— Takaoki TAJIMA
—
ART FAIR TOKYO 20
Artist | Takaoki TAJIMA
Dates | March 13 (Fri) – March 15 (Sun), 2026
Booth | gallery UG (Lobby Booth L-010)
【Private Viewing 】
March 12 (Thu) 11:00–19:00 (First Choice)
March 12 (Thu) 13:00–19:00
【Public Viewing】
March 13 (Fri) 11:00–19:00
March 14 (Sat) 11:00–19:00
March 15 (Sun) 11:00–17:00
Venue | Tokyo International Forum, Hall E / Lobby Gallery
3-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan
The Lobby Booth may be viewed without a ticket.
