Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore (6th floor, GINZA SIX, Chuo-ku, Tokyo) will be holding a group exhibition "Futurama vol.1" by Yusuke Abe, Yuka Ishii, Chiaki Uminuma, Ryu Takeda, and Ryoko Furukawa in the in-store art space FOAM CONTEMPORARY from Saturday, February 8th to Wednesday, March 5th, 2025.
Special page | https://store.tsite.jp/kyoto/event/t-site/45154-1233300117.html
·overview
We are pleased to present "Futurama vol.1," a group exhibition of artists who create their own stories using everyday objects and the artists' own experiences as starting points. The first exhibition will feature five artists: Yusuke Abe, Yuka Ishii, Chiaki Uminuma, Ryu Takeda, and Ryoko Furukawa.
The title "Futurama" is a combination of "Future" and "Panorama." The worlds created by the artists are perceived as "unknown panoramas," and in this unstable and ever-changing modern world, the exhibition will present a group of works that will serve as observation points for gazing at the future. The artists featured in this exhibition move effortlessly between opposites such as reality/fantasy, concrete/abstract, which are connected by a gradation, and express them in the real world as their own works.
・Artist profile
Yusuke Abe
Yusuke Abe "Two Houses" 158 x 227 mm, oil pastel on wooden panel, 2024
Born in Yamagata Prefecture in 1993, Abe graduated from Tama Art University Graduate School in 2018. He is currently based in Saitama Prefecture. His major solo exhibitions include "Yusuke Abe Solo Exhibition" (4649, Tokyo, 2023 and 2021), "Yusuke Abe Solo Exhibition" (CADAN Yurakucho, Tokyo, 2023), and "To Be Decisively Free" (Loko Gallery, Tokyo, 2018). His major group exhibitions include "Echo from Nowhere" (parcel, Tokyo, 2024), "Voices from the Heart" (CON_, Tokyo, 2023), and "Tokimeki Memorial by XYZ collective" (La Maison de Rendezvous, Brussels, 2019).
Yuuka Ishii
Yuka Ishii “untitled” 610×910mm, oil on canvas, 2024
Born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1995. Graduated from the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tama Art University in 2019. Completed the Master's program in Oil Painting at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2022. Major solo exhibitions include "Fountain: Pythagoras Comma Edition" (Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery, Tokyo, 2024), "Great Reverse Run" (same gallery, Tokyo, 2024), and "Careless View" (KOMAGOME1-14cas, Tokyo, 2021). Group exhibitions include "THROWBACK" (TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka, 2025), "Julian's Absence" (Up&Coming, Tokyo, 2025), "Eudaemonia" (Gallery Common, Tokyo, 2024), and the O JUN curated exhibition "A World of Happiness and Misery: Dat + Yuka Ishii + Hirosuke Yamawaki + O JUN" (Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2024).
Chiaki Kainuma
(Profile picture)
Chiaki Uminuma "PARADISE" 300 x 300 mm, acrylic paint, canvas, 2025
Born in Tokyo in 1995. Graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Painting, majoring in oil painting in 2018. Influenced by internet culture such as zakka collage and vaporwave, he creates paintings that often incorporate irony and humor on the theme of utopia in capitalist society. Major exhibitions include the solo exhibition "KAINUMA and the CHOCOLATE FACTORY" (Kameido Art Center, Tokyo, 2024), the solo exhibition "System Setting Myth Rakuenkyo" (Shinjuku Ophthalmology Gallery, Tokyo, 2023), the solo exhibition "Super Kainuma Original Art Exhibition – The Naive Sanctuary" (Shinjuku Ophthalmology Gallery, Tokyo, 2021), and the group exhibition "Eudaemonia" (Gallery Common, Tokyo, 2024).
Ryu Takeda
Takeda Ryu, "Coral Molar Mycelium," 535 x 455 mm, Oil on canvas, 2023 *This work is not included in this exhibition.
Born in Ibaraki in 1989. Graduated from the Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Art and Design, Musashino Art University in 2016. He creates paintings by picking up images evoked by accidental stains and scratches. For Takeda, who often compares the act of painting to excavation, painting is also an act of digging up the unconscious realm that has been lost through verbalization and classification. Major solo exhibitions include "Devonian Touch" (TAV GALLERY, Tokyo, 2024) and "Griffin" (LAVENDER OPENER CHAIR, Tokyo, 2023). Major group exhibitions include "GROUP SHOW: 5 ARTISTS" (KOSAKU KANECHIKA, Tokyo, 2024) and "HANNAH" (parcel, Tokyo, 2024).
Ryoko Furukawa
(Profile picture)
Ryoko Furukawa, "The Team Captain is Claustrophobic," 606×455 mm, Acrylic on cotton, 2025
Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1994. Graduated from Hiroshima City University Faculty of Arts, majoring in oil painting, in 2020, and completed the Graduate School of Arts at Hiroshima City University in 2022. Focusing on the interrelationships between works and titles, and words and objects, he cuts up texts written by others, such as household appliance manuals, local guidebooks, English vocabulary books, and friends' diaries, and creates paintings, texts, and drawings based on the titles he generates. Major solo exhibitions include "Watching Crazy Movies" (PTT Space, Taiwan, 2024), "Poor Jane Brown Speech to the Nation" (biscuit gallery, Tokyo, 2023), and "The Pacific Ocean is Made of Silver" (Hirose Collection, Hiroshima, 2023). Residency production: "New Reality" (Art Gallery Miyauchi, Hiroshima, 2021). Group exhibitions include “kɯβzɨβɾe^ Collapse” (Decameron, Tokyo, 2023), “Expressions of Contemporary Artists” (SHIDO Earth Museum, Hyogo, 2023), and “Mishima Mangan Art Festival” (various locations in Mishima City, Shizuoka, 2023).
・Sales
Works exhibited at the venue will go on sale from 11:00 on Saturday, February 8th.
*Depending on the pre-sales situation, sales may end before the start of the event.
・Exhibition details
Date: February 8th (Sat) – March 5th (Wed), 2025
Time: 11:00-19:00 *18:00 on the last day.
Reception | Saturday, February 8th, 17:30-19:00
*Anyone can participate. The artist will be present on the day.
Closed on Mondays, 2/24 (Monday, national holiday), 2/25 (Tuesday) *Closed Venue: FOAM CONTEMPORARY
Admission | Free Organizer | Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore Special Page | https://store.tsite.jp/kyoto/event/t-site/45154-1233300117.html
FOAM CONTEMPORARY
Combining the concept of “LIQUID,” which evokes flexible project content, with the concept of “SOLID,” which is a fully equipped space as a traditional white cube, the intermediate form known as “FOAM” is an expressive space that reflects the Japanese art scene from multiple angles.
The first "O" in the logo is intentionally misshapen to evoke the image of a bubble. It represents the ever-changing contemporary art scene itself, while also expressing the image of an artist's free, flexible and infinite expression.
As an expressive space that explores and fosters the value and joy of art that transcends the life cycle of art, while staying in tune with the actuality of the times, we will introduce a variety of noteworthy artists regardless of their career history or age.
Instagram｜ https://www.instagram.com/foamcontemporary/
Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore
We connect art, Japanese culture, and life through books, and propose "life with art."
Address: 6F GINZA SIX, 6-10-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061
Business hours: Please check the store's website.
Homepage｜https://store.tsite.jp/ginza/
Facebook｜ https://www.facebook.com/GINZA.TSUTAYABOOKS/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter｜ https://twitter.com/GINZA_TSUTAYA
Instagram｜ https://www.instagram.com/ginza_tsutayabooks/
CCC Art Lab
CCC Art Lab is a planning group within the planning company Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. that proposes "a life with art." Through proposing "a life with art," we hope to bring art closer to people, make people's lives happier, and contribute to creating a better society. Based on the knowledge we have gained through many years of business experience in store planning, art media, product development, event production, and more, we propose plans with an approach that only we can take.
https://www.ccc-artlab.jp/
[Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. (CCC ART LAB)] Press release
