We are delighted to announce that Nami Okada, our exclusive artist, will be participating as one of three local artists in a special exhibition at the Takasaki Museum of Art. This event is held in conjunction with the Music Played by Art exhibition, featuring a collection of curated works.
Additionally, Okada will take part in a gallery talk on Sunday, December 8, at 2:00 p.m. Advance registration is required for the “Nami Okada Gallery Talk.” If you would like to attend, please call the Takasaki Museum of Art at 027-324-6125, starting at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, November 11.
Every day, I spend much of my time working with my hands—searching for materials, contemplating what I want to create, and pouring my emotions into my art. My paintings have become an integral part of my life. It was only recently that I realized my work is not separate from me; it has become a part of who I am.
I began my journey by creating works based on the theme of accumulated memories. Over time, it felt natural to explore the theme of void—a concept shaped by my experiences with changing seasons, the passage of time, and the interplay between permanence and impermanence.
In this exhibition at the Takasaki Museum of Art, I will primarily showcase paintings from my void series. These works represent the concept of “time” in various ways. I have been exploring how to express the flow of time within a single painting, experimenting with techniques such as layering the flow of paint to mimic the passage of time or creating imagery reminiscent of a faded photograph to capture the fluctuations and changes of memory.
The landscapes depicted in these works lack tangible form. Instead, they emerge gradually, layered from fragments drawn from my memory.
It would bring me great joy if viewers could connect with these ambiguous landscapes, finding in them echoes of their own distant memories and shared mental imagery.
Nami Okada
We warmly invite you to visit if you’re in the area!
We are pleased to announce that gallery UG Osaka Umeda will be holding Shoichi OKUMURA's solo exhibition "Synthetic Tropical" from Friday, January 3, 2025, to Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
This exhibition is a continuation of its earlier showing in Tennoz.
The theme of paradise has long been a central subject in East Asian art. Examples include the Pure Land in Buddhism, the immortal realms in Taoism, landscapes depicted in traditional ink paintings, and mandalas shown as expanded diagrams.
In contemporary times, the concept of "tropical" has joined this lineage. Unlike philosophical or religious notions of paradise, the "tropical" is an artificial image of paradise crafted by media and advertising. It represents a synthetic ideal shaped by modern influences.
"Synthetic Tropical" does not reflect the untamed natural world but instead portrays an artificial imitation of the tropics— a contemporary representation of paradise stripped of its rawness and wildness.
We are pleased to announce that gallery UG Tennoz will be holding Shoichi OKUMURA's solo exhibition "Synthetic Tropical" from Friday, December 6th to Saturday, December 21st, 2024.
We are pleased to announce that gallery UG Osaka Umeda will be holding Osamu Watanabe's "A Sweet and Enchanting Exhibition" from Wednesday, November 20th to Tuesday, December 10th.
The exhibition will feature whimsical creations made to resemble whipped cream, cakes, chocolate, and fruit, forming animals, buildings, and chandeliers.
Osamu Watanabe, a pioneer in the art of "decoration art," uses resin to create cream-like textures and food-sample techniques to craft his works.
His enchanting world evokes the joy of indulging in sweets, filling viewers with happiness and delight.
"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.
The motifs chosen by Nami OKADA for her artwork are places she has visited personally. Her artwork arouses feelings of déjà vu and of reaching across time in viewers, whose backgrounds all differ.
Each person forms a distinct impression of a given building or piece of scenery due to the differences in their memories and experiences. Such spaces thus possess a multitude of forms.
It is only when there is commonality in the interpretations of multiple viewers that a given piece of scenery takes on certain meaning.
OKADA brings life to One View by exploring the relationship between pieces of scenery that have taken on meaning due to the overlapping of such commonalities and pieces of scenery whose meaning has yet to take shape.
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)
11F Daimaru Umeda Department Store
3-1-1, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka
From JR Osaka Station from 1-minute walk/JR Kita-Shinchi Station a 6-minute walk
From Midosuji Line Umeda Station from 2-minute walk/Tanimachi Line Higashi-Umeda Station from 8-minute walk/Yotsubashi Line Nishi-Umeda Station a 4-minute walk
From Hankyu Umeda Station from 13-minute walk/Hanshin Umeda Station a 12-minute walk
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.