Best Stalls in Gendai, Tokyo 2025

The first thing that caught my attention was the pitch-black branches on display at the Ingby Gallery in Edinburgh. At first, I wondered why there was a branch at all, but the surface close to it showed a rough black coating. It is covered with ashes of over 10,000 different tree species.

Scottish Artist Katie Paterson Try to merge the vastness of Earth’s natural history into one object. Her works draw on the grand scientific themes – geography, time, universe – translated through poetic sensitivity and meticulous research. In this article, a branch is enough to transfer the audience from the artificial background of Yokohama to the deeper era of nature. –Asuka Kavanabe

The young Tokyo gallery, Con_, who turned his head last week, showed off a personal speech by Korean painter Minhee Kim. Three large-scale works can be performed from her Jakarta residence, as well as a new series produced at Art Omi, New York.

Since her debut, Kim portrays female characters through lenses from the 90s Cyberpunk and Techno-Corrientalism. Her early works feature character-like symbols, but recent works explore how beauty and violence can be embedded in the image of women shaped by contemporary media.

The image of a woman with robotic artificial beauty stems from desires that arise in modern cultures such as K-Pop and social media, and the female form changes in a sticky way to distort the desire. As the artist herself said, she also has a desire for her body, and what she portrays may be both a fetish image of modern women and a self-portrait –Shunta Ishigami

At the Vancouver-based Unit17 booth, Douglas Watt’s work hangs on a wall covered with tape. Born in 1990, Watt works in the underage Aboriginal areas of the people of Musukliam, Sukwamish and Tsleil-Wautu in British Columbia, and regularly contributes to curatorial projects throughout Canada.

His miniature works are made from familiar everyday materials, namely signs, staples, sponges, popsicle sticks, and are drawn from places he often visits. They quietly redescribe a world of growing information.

Throughout the booth, the installation made for the “Sato’Sato Meadow’” section shows something new: a large piece that depicts the diving practice area of ​​the local swimming pool. This is an unusual move for artists who usually work on a miniature or life-sized scale.Kiyoshi Sato

Born in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Aya Fujioka displays three of her works river In the series, we won the 43rd Kimura IHEI Photography Award. The series takes the seven rivers of Hiroshima as a theme that metaphorically tracks the history, memory and lingering existence of the atomic bomb.

The series has a distinct mask of everyday life, with powerful problems that seem cheerful or tranquil scenes. A picture shows a high school girl playing with an atomic bomb dome in the background. Another one caught the elementary school student staring in the same direction (what are they looking at?), as the bird flew over the head. Fujimoto’s approach is completely different from Ken Domon’s approach, revealing Hiroshima, which is quietly based on everyday life. Meet these works again this year, marking the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing, which can make them important.

In the photos in the series, Fujiko writes: “The river flows like blood. Blood flows like rivers.” –Mayans

On the booth of Johyun Gallery in Busan-based, bronze sculptures radiate a stunning presence. Since moving to France in 1989, artist Lee Bae was born in 1956 and has been focusing on charcoal as the main theme.

Lee said that “charcoal has power beyond human control” and associates it with concepts such as “life and death” and “circulation.” In addition to bronze sculptures, the gallery also displays his Brush touch The series further explores his exploration of charcoal. Starting with burning raw wood, Lee layered his brushstrokes to capture the moment when material energy intersects with human gestures.

The device name of Kim Taek-sang also appeared in the booth momentdisplayed in the “Sato’Sato’Meadow'” section. –Naoya Raita

Pick up the phone, make a call, and read a poem aloud. Dial poem It is an interactive project initiated by poet John Giorno in 1968 and is now one of Momoa’s most popular works.

This work is deeply political. Inspired by movements such as the anti-Vietnam War protests, it includes the works of radical poets and activists. Due to its content, it may be difficult to display in a strictly censored country. Therefore, its inclusion in Tokyo Gendai is worth celebrating. –Asuka Kavanabe

With locations in Seoul and Los Angeles, Gana Art presents the works of Berlin artist Andrew Moncrief, known for exploring topics such as queer identity, masculinity and idealized bodies. His stall consists of paintings of scattered figures.

A recurring pattern is the hand holding a cigarette, said to have been inspired by Philip Guston. For Moncrief, this hand symbolizes incomplete identity and fragmented sensory experiences of contemporary life. Today, we interact with society to a large extent, namely introduction, scrolling, typing, smoking – we also tied it through them.

Moncrief’s hand draws a cigarette rubbing on the ground as if drawing lines, but trying (albeit painfully) to make modern life addictive. –Shunta Ishigami

Copenhagen’s formation gallery takes part in Gendai, Tokyo for the first time, showing new work by Danish artist Carl Krull. Many of the works were produced during his recent residence in Japan, his first exhibition in Asia.

Krull’s “earthquake” mapping technique created layers of paint, forming terrain works, from which numbers appeared, as if detected by sonar. Although made of paint, the works have a sculptural presence, but their form seems to rise from below the surface.

Opposite the booth, Kruel is also showing vertexas part of the “Sato’Meadow,” was inspired by live painting performances of calligraphy. One piece is created every day, a total of four. –Nimisha Anand

Among the artists at Taka Ishii Gallery, Kohei and others describe it as “a relatively young artist”, one of which is eye-catching: a large abstract painting by Takumi Ogami, born in 2000 and recently graduated from Kyoto University.

Title Untitled (2025), the painting has a strong contrast between crimson, yellow and black brushstrokes, causing a painful sense of struggle. For Ogami, painting is a practice of testing the boundaries between his body and the outside world, a process he describes as “intimidation.”

After careful inspection, the surface reveals a circular scanned collage of stones collected by the artist, thus subtly destroying the harmony of the composition. –Mayans

Two works by Tschabalala self in Galerie Eva PresenhuberOdalisque study under the shrub and Odalisque study in landscape– Stand out of the way with its bright colors and layered fabrics. The warm tones of red and orange give the canvas a hug, even when they face the audience’s presence.

Born in Harlem in 1990, he is full of paintings, prints and sculptures to examine the identity and body of black women. Repeated features – braided hair, neatly trimmed nails, prominent hips – are not stereotypes. Instead, these images reconstruct them, rigorously questioning the image of black women.

Self’s view of classical Odalisque’s subordinates to the female form of white gaze for centuries. By centering on the image of black women, she returns power to marginalized themes, showing desire and oppression with new intensity. –Naoya Raita