Inside Tokyo Gendai, Japan’s New Marquee International Art Fair

It’s been five years in the making, but Japan finally has its own major international art fair. That, at least, is what many of the visitors, organizers, and galleries in attendance at the inaugural Tokyo Gendai are hoping for. Taking place at the Pacifico Convention Center in Yokohama—about an hour outside the Tokyo metropolis—the fair convenes 73 galleries for what its organizers are calling a “new art fair and meeting place for the international art world.”

Expectations for Tokyo Gendai are high. Despite its status as a cultural superpower, the Japanese art market has lagged behind regional counterparts Hong Kong and South Korea when it comes to making an international impact. With some 44 international exhibitors—including heavyweights such as Perrotin, Almine Rech, and Blum & Poe—the fair is the largest attempt yet to bring the global contemporary art world to Japan, and bring the Japanese art market to the world.

Magnus Renfrew, global director and co-chairman of fair organizer The Art Assembly (which also launched the first Art SG in Singapore earlier this year), was keen to emphasize that this inaugural edition of the fair is “the first step of a longer journey” for the Japanese art world. “Our aspiration is that over the coming years, we can really build this into a fair of global importance,” he said. “It’s really time now for the Japanese art scene to step into the spotlight.”

One significant part of this, he added, is a new tax break negotiated with the Japanese government. It will enable international galleries to pay the country’s 10% goods and services tax on imported works of art at the point of sale, instead of paying it in advance as was the case before—a move that Renfrew called “something of a game-changer for international gallery participation.”

It’s perhaps because of these high expectations that at the fair’s VIP day on Thursday, the mood throughout was one of nervous anticipation. But this was partially dispelled throughout the day as steady crowds flowed into the Pacifico Center. Within the first hours of the preview, several booths were so crowded that they were having to turn visitors away.

“We’re kind of testing water here, in the Tokyo Gendai, and the response has been enormous,” said an excitable Sundaram Tagore, who was presenting a solo booth of delicate new “Waterfall” works by famed Japanese painter Hiroshi Senju. The artist has public works featured in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station and Haneda airport. For Tagore, who has worked with the artist for several years, exhibiting these works at the fair represented a synergistic moment. “We have had a lot of Japanese institutions who came and bought artworks purely because of his relationship to our New York gallery,” he told Artsy. “Now to be here and reconnect with those collectors and institutions has been very important.”

Tagore was one of 10 galleries in the “Eda” (or “Branch”) section of the fair, dedicated to exhibitions of “historically significant artists.” Around the corner, The Columns Gallery’s standout presentation of five Asian artists’ works tied together themes of identity, labor, and careers in a deft mix of mediums from video to textile. Eisa Jocson’s installation Becoming White (2018), for example, investigates the difficulties experienced by Filipino women in the entertainment industry, while Japanese artist Ai Kijima’s dazzling fabrics woven from found materials explore the intersection of gender and labor.

Other sections at the fair included “Tane” (or “Seed”), dedicated to works created using digital techniques. There, New York– and L.A.-based gallery The Hole presented a typically eye-catching booth, which included the trippy double-channel video installation Novacene (2023) by Ry David Bradley and Matthew Stone’s video Human In The Loop (Depth Mix) (2023). The latter work is a hypnotic, frenetic screen that stopped more than a few visitors in their tracks.

At the “Hana” (or “Flower”) section, meanwhile, 21 galleries exhibited works by emerging and midcareer artists. At Tokyo-based Gallery COMMON’s presentation, vibrant, Picasso-esque still lifes by Japanese artist Shohei Takasaki played off a selection of sculptures by American artist Alex Anderson, which featured a variety of cryptic scenes, including a cat that appeared to be eating its own tail. At Manila gallery The Drawing Room, artist Dominic Mangila was on hand to talk visitors through his four tender, large-scale paintings depicting scenes of labor, referenced from photographs taken in internment camps during World War II. “I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me as an Asian American to share this narrative to the local [visitors],” the artist told Artsy.

In addition to the thematic presentations, the majority of galleries in the main section of the hall opted to use Tokyo Gendai to showcase the breadth of their programs. Many relished the chance to exhibit their artists’ work before a crowd of international visitors that mostly included individuals from South Korea, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore (there was, however, a visible presence of American and European fairgoers).

Several of Japan’s big-name collectors made an appearance, too, with figures such as Obayashi Foundation founder Takeo Obayashi among those spotted in convivial spirit across the fair. While it was hard to parse broader aesthetic trends from the presentations, these standout names explained the serious approach taken by exhibitors keen to make a statement at the marquee event.

“It’s very nice that we also see a lot of Korean collectors or Southeast Asian collectors fly to Japan to visit this fair,” said Wila Yip, an associate director at Tang Contemporary Art, which has spaces in Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, and Hong Kong. The gallery’s “experimental” display, Yip noted, combined large-scale works by established names such as Ai Weiwei, Zhao Zhao, and Yue Minjun with more emerging regional names such as Cai Lei 蔡磊, Yoon Hyup, and Kitti Narod. “It’s nice that we can introduce our gallery brand to the Japanese local collector more,” Yip added. A pair of signature pointillist paintings by Hyup had sold by the opening of the second day, along with a bronze block sculpture by Lei, confirming that this approach was paying off.

Japanese galleries were also enjoying the opportunity to play on home turf. At Tokyo gallery ShugoArts’s presentation, 30 of Shigeo Toya’s wood sculptures inhabited the booth like an elegant forest. Meanwhile, a series of eye-popping paintings by in-demand painter Aki Kondo had all sold out or were on hold by the end of the VIP day. Yuehan Zhao, a representative of the gallery, expressed excitement at the ability to be able to bring heftier works such as Toya’s to a fair without having to pay excessive duties. “I think the size of 30 pieces is very important,” she told Artsy. “I’m so, so happy that we in Tokyo can achieve that.”

At fellow Tokyo gallery ANOMALY, a similar exercise in scale was taking place with Yukinori Yanagi’s cast-iron battleship piece taking center stage. The ship, surrounded by debris and paraphernalia, demonstrates the artist’s recurring, withering references to Japanese military history and nationalism. “The work presents the materiality of Japan’s historical consequences and politics, so this work offers an important opportunity to reconsider the country of Japan itself,” said gallery representative Atsumi Sato.

Another local exhibitor demonstrating their leading artists with aplomb was Mizuma Art Gallery, which presented 10 artists that deploy sophisticated Japanese craft techniques in their practice. From Okamoto Ellie’s fantastical acrylic, cotton, and oil panels to Aida Makoto’s lively painting series on disposable lunchboxes rendered with urethane foam, oil, and acrylic gouache, each artist demonstrated an individual interpretation of contemporary Japanese society drawing on the region’s heritage and tradition. Gallery representative Ryota Kondo was in a buoyant mood when Artsy caught up with him in the late afternoon of the VIP day. “We’ve already passed a lot of business cards,” he said. “We believe that it’s going to be one of the largest international art fairs in Tokyo.”

Whilst the vast majority of exhibitors declined to offer specific details on first-day sales, many expressed satisfaction.

“We really got a wonderful turnout from all around Asia [...] much more than we expected,” said Wahei Aoyama, owner of Tokyo stalwart A Lighthouse called Kanata. Aoyma had sold seven works by the first day of the fair from his booth that included pieces by Shogo Watari, Ayane Mikagi, and Kosuke Kato. “People have been waiting for a truly international fair,” he added. “The number of wealthy clients is incomparable, and people are just waiting for that platform…it’s here.”

For the international galleries, a similar optimism was clear. Many used the occasion to present their most prominent names, whether it be works by Caroline Walker and Andrew Cranston at Ingleby Gallery, or Toyin Ojih Odutola at Jack Shainman Gallery.

“We’ve already met a lot of Japanese clients and it’s very busy,” said Thibaut Geffrin, a director at tastemaking internet gallery Almine Rech. The selection of artists, he said, was intended to show “the global programme of the gallery,” and several of its big name-works had sold by the end of the day. Its first-day sales included an eye-catching painting by Chloe Wise that was sold in the range of $101,000–$110,000, a Tom Wesselmann Smoker Study (For Smoker #20) (1974), sold for between $425,000–$460,000, and a work by Alexandre Lenoir for $110,000–$120,000. With other in-demand names on view at the booth, including Vivian Springford, Günther Förg, and Roby Dwi Antono, the gallery looked to be on course for a successful outing.