“New Japanese Painting -Japanese Modern-” an exhibition exploring the current state of Japanese painting by six up-and-coming artists will be held at Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO in Ginza.

Dates: Thursday, December 18th, 2025 to Wednesday, December 24th, 2025 Opening hours: 10:30-20:30 (closing at 18:00 on the last day)

Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO, an art gallery operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Store on the 5th floor of GINZA SIX, will be holding an exhibition titled "New Japanese Painting – Japanese Modern" featuring six artists (Inaba Miyakoyori, Kanai Miyu, Suzuki Kota, Toyama Ryo, Nakanishi Erika, and Wada Chudo) who, while drawing on the techniques and materials of traditional Japanese painting, explore new possibilities for painting through modern vision and spirit.
The term "Nihonga" (Japanese painting) is not simply the inheritance of techniques, but a form of thought mediated by sensitivity to nature, time, and existence. The artists exhibiting in this exhibition deconstruct and reconstruct this form based on their own sensibilities, exploring how painting can live in the "now."

Date: December 18th (Thursday) – December 24th (Wednesday), 2025
Business hours: 10:30-20:30 (closing at 18:00 on the last day)

The six artists featured in this exhibition—Inaba Miyakoyori, who reconstructs cities and memories through bird's-eye compositions, connects contemporary information-based vision to Japanese painting. Kanai Miyu weaves fragments of the body and memory with soft lines and colors, sublimating the individual's inner self into universal emotion. Suzuki Kota transfers the randomness of digital media onto the textures of mineral pigments and foil, visualizing the relationship between information and matter, symbols and handiwork. Toyama Ryo meticulously layers light and air to capture the flow of time and the lingering sensations within the surface of his paintings. Nakanishi Erika symbolically depicts the transience of plants and animals, serenely expressing the resonance between materials and life. Wada Chudo redefines the formal beauty and spatial awareness inherent in Japanese painting through abstract compositions and the resonance of color planes.

While the six artists' expressions are diverse, they all share a commonality: standing "between tradition and modernity." Respecting the memories inherent in their materials while raising a contemporary consciousness from within them lies at the heart of "new Japanese painting." Their works neither negate the past nor imitate the future, but instead focus on the tension and stillness that arise between them. When viewers stand before their works, they will experience the paintings not simply as a visual experience, but as a dialogue between time and the senses.

Erika Nakanishi "I don't want to go home yet", 65.2 x 65.2 x 2.5cm, hemp paper, gold leaf, dried water, mineral pigments, ink

Kanai Miyu "No New Clothes", 53 x 72.7 x 2.1 cm, woodblock print, ink, mineral pigments, Japanese paper

Soushi Wada "Figure 62 "Wind", 91 x 91 cm, silk, mineral pigments, chalk, glue, ink

Kota Suzuki "EMERGE_24", 52 x 65 x 6 cm, wood, acrylic paint, pure silver leaf

Inaba Miyakoyori "Fire on the Other Side", F10 size, hemp paper, aluminum foil, ink, chalk, dried water pigments, mineral pigments

Ryo Toyama, "Loka dhaatu", 116.7 x 72.7 x 2.1 cm, hemp paper on a wooden panel, mineral pigments, dried water pigments, ink, and acrylic paint

Profile: Inaba Miyakoyori Historical fairy tales and legends are actual events that have transformed over time and culture, and they embody the reality and worldviews of the people of that time. Whether mysterious or tragic, the mysterious events and tragic incidents that Inaba witnessed and recorded may be perceived by some as fiction, or even comedy. This fluctuation dissolves the boundary between reality and fantasy, creating a "blank space" for interpretation, in an expression where images and words intersect. While recording the "reality" that changes with each era, Inaba is conscious of incorporating room for others to freely reinterpret it into his work. He creates a space where "time," "perspective," and "story" intersect, gradually shifting meanings within the viewer. This ambiguity and overlap is at the root of his work.

Born in Hokkaido in 1988
2012 Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Japanese Painting
2023 Part-time Lecturer, Department of Japanese Painting, Musashino Art University

Major solo exhibitions
2023 "Too Wide, Too Narrow" gallery MONMA (Sapporo)
2024 "Unclear Footage" +DA.YO.NE.GALLERY (Tokyo)

Awards
2017: Selected for the 20th Taro Okamoto Award for Contemporary Art (Taro Okamoto Museum of Art, Kawasaki)

■Kanai Miyu There are rough edges in our daily lives that cannot be summed up in words.
The fluctuations and instability caused by human emotions are gradually overlooked and eliminated in the efficiency and consistency that society demands.
My work focuses on this "roughness" or "noise." It is an attempt to accept and record the accidental traces that arise in the woodblock printmaking process, such as misalignment, fading, and smudges, which would normally be considered "failures," as human error.

Born in 1999
2025 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, Japanese Painting Major
2025: Enrolled in the Master's program in the Department of Printmaking at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts

Major solo and group exhibitions
2024 "Repeated Memories" Gallery Minoya (Tokyo)
2025 “Tawara Award Exhibition” Tokyo University of the Arts YUGA Gallery (Tokyo)

Awards
2023 "Gallery Minoya Student Selection Exhibition" Encouragement Award (Gallery Minoya)
2024 Selected for the 42nd Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition (Ueno Royal Museum)

■ Suzuki Kota begins by drawing pictures on a computer, creating digital data images. In doing so, he converts certain image data into text data and rewrites the content to create "bugs," which he uses as part of his motif. The "bugs" appear as corruptions of information unrelated to Suzuki's intentions, bringing a sense of randomness to the painting. He transitions from the digital data he has created into a real painting. He uses foil and mineral pigments as materials to give inorganic image data a sense of materiality. This transition process is like going back and forth between the world of data and the real world. It is similar to the feeling of being pulled back to reality when you suddenly look away from the screen after working on a smartphone or computer for a long time.

Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1993
2017 Graduated from Tama Art University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, Japanese Painting Major
2019 Completed master's course in Japanese painting research at Tama Art University Graduate School

Major solo exhibitions
2022 "biscuit gallery group exhibition "re"" biscuit gallery (Tokyo)
2023 "ninecolors" Hankyu Umeda Main Store Art Stage (Osaka)
2024 "ninecolors" Hankyu Umeda Main Store Art Stage (Osaka)

■Toyama Ryo All life that is born into this world is a factor that makes up the world. By living, they inevitably influence other life, and this influence is passed on to future life.
The way in which the lives (souls) living in this moment influence each other is expressed through creatures such as butterflies.

Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1994
2017 Graduated from Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, majoring in Japanese painting

Major solo exhibitions
2020 Solo Exhibition at Shinseido (Tokyo)
2022 Solo Exhibition at GINZA SIX (Tokyo)
2023 Solo Exhibition at Hankyu Umeda Main Store (Osaka)

Awards
2016: Seed Yamatane Museum of Art Japanese Painting Award 2016 Jury Encouragement Award
2019: Encouragement Award at the Seed Yamatane Museum of Art Japanese Painting Award 2019

■ Nakanishi Erika Works on the theme of rare plants and animals, exploring expressions that combine subjective deformation and modern elements while based on classical techniques. Starting from a deep respect for nature and life, she places emphasis on the ancient Japanese aesthetic of "space" and "feeling." Blank spaces and white space encourage the viewer's imagination, and by highlighting the presence of life in the work, she creates a dialogue with the viewer. The current situation of rare plants and animals involves many challenges brought about by human activity. She aims to raise awareness of the environment through her works, and to present opportunities for new discoveries by intersecting Japanese spiritual culture with a modern perspective.

Born in 1988
2016: Completed the Japanese Painting course at the Graduate School of Art and Design, Musashino Art University

Major solo exhibitions
2017 "Erika Nakanishi Solo Exhibition: The Distant Sea" Court Gallery Kunitachi (Tokyo)
2024 "REC point" Anicoremix Gallery (online solo exhibition)

Awards
2012: Received the Encouragement Award for 2D and 3D Works at the 48th Kanagawa Prefectural Art Exhibition
2014: Received the Excellence Award for the Graduation Project from the Department of Japanese Painting at Musashino Art University

■ Wada Sorado creates contemporary Japanese paintings based on the theme of "entanglement." His motif is a pattern of ink dropped into water, which he photographed at the moment when it took on the appearance of a human form, and then hand-reconstructed based on the photograph. The moment it looks like a human is only a moment, and the next moment it turns into mere murky water, and eventually the entire water changes from transparent to a solid gray. He felt that this series of movements was something that should be expressed in traditional painting. He believes that vibrant red is the color of life, and that it shines most vividly when sandwiched between black and white, the colors of death.

Born in Tokyo in 1992
2017 Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Painting, Japanese Painting Major
2022: Obtained Ph.D. in Japanese Painting, Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts

Awards: Received the Heisei Art Award; Selected for the 7th Toyohashi Triennale; Selected for the 8th Toyohashi Triennale; Selected for the 28th Garyuzakura Japanese Painting Grand Prize Exhibition; Selected for the 40th Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition

■Exhibition overview
New Japanese Painting -Japanese Modern-
Date: December 18th (Thursday) – December 24th (Wednesday), 2025
Business hours: 10:30-20:30 *Closing time: 18:00 on the last day Venue: Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO
GINZA SIX 5th floor, 6-10-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
https://artglorieux.jp/
Admission fee: Free

About Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO
Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO is a gallery operated by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co., Ltd.
*Details will be posted on the website in due course. Please check.
*Events and exhibitions may be subject to change or cancellation due to various circumstances.