It is an unusually frigid March morning in the Yurakucho business district, but the majestic halls of Tokyo International Forum are abuzz with anticipation as dealers and journalists gather to survey this year’s art market. Art Fair Tokyo, the largest art fair in Japan and the oldest in Asia, is presenting 139 galleries this year from March 7-9, aiming to introduce the city’s vibrant art scene to the world.
The fair covers a broad spectrum of genres and periods, from antiques and crafts to nihonga painting, modern art and contemporary works. Notably, the event offers a rare opportunity to explore Japan’s most prominent galleries and vanguard artworks at once. Last year’s fair drew a record ¥328 million in sales, painting a promising future ahead for the country’s mature art market and boundless creative spirit.
Particularly robust among this year’s pool of creatives is the incredible selection of contemporary artists. Boldly experimental in formal innovation and transcending geographical and temporal context through intertextuality, the artists represented below continue to make their mark on today’s prismatic, cosmopolitan art market.
“Chata the Raijin” (2025), Kosuke Ajiro | acrylic on canvas 116.7×91.0 cm | biscuit gallery
Kosuke Ajiro
Tokyo-based Kosuke Ajiro takes an intriguing archaeological approach to his complex, folklike compositions. Likening his childhood memories to a fictional lost civilization that “died out in the medieval period of its development,” Ajiro records imaginary historical figures and fantastical creatures in elaborate tapestries to symbolize the “other world” within himself — a world as mysterious and vast in scope as ancient dynasties and creation myths.
The artist incorporates elements from the visual lexicons of several historical art forms: traditional Japanese picture scrolls, European medieval manuscripts and various folk religious art forms from the East and West. In particular, he is influenced by Hieronymus Bosch’s kaleidoscopic, richly symbolic illustrations. At Art Fair Tokyo this year, he is represented by biscuit gallery.
“The Man Sleeping” (2025), Rao Fu | acrylic on canvas 70x101x4 cm | Perrotin
Rao Fu
Synthesizing the intense, emotional color experience of the German Expressionist tradition and the fluid energy of Chinese calligraphy, Rao Fu is a singular painter known for his enigmatic landscapes. His bicultural background certainly influences his unique approach — born in Beijing, Fu studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and is now based in the vibrant artistic city.
Fu’s dreamlike compositions are at once intimidatingly foreign and hypnotically resonant; the jarring gaze and eerie forms of his subjects distance spectators, yet his pieces also possess a deeply human, psychological quality that transcends this estrangement. Magnetic and peculiarly touching, Fu’s paintings demand an extended gaze. At this year’s Art Fair Tokyo, Fu is represented by Perrotin.
“We-e jya naika -Dance-” (2024), Keisuke Yamaguchi (OZ) | Acrylics on Canvas 180×120 cm | ain soph dispatch
Keisuke Yamaguchi (OZ)
Keisuke Yamaguchi, also known as OZ, fuses traditional Japanese techniques and imagery with modern contours to create an entirely original visual language — one that immediately grabs your attention. Born in Nagano Prefecture, Yamaguchi is deeply inspired by ukiyo-e prints, rendering floating worlds through a contemporary lens. He is also known for his enthralling live painting performances at venues ranging from the Ueda Castle ruins in Nagano to Central Park in New York City.
“We-e jya naika -Dance-” (2024), which references Henri Matisse’s Fauvist masterpiece “Dance (I)” (1909), stands out among his ukiyo-e inspired works for its Western connection. Although Yamaguchi employs his signature blend of flatness and depth, brushed and smooth textures and a rich, gold backdrop here, the work’s ode to Matisse lends a new hybridity to his Shinto-influenced oeuvre. At Art Fair Tokyo this year, Yamaguchi is represented by Ain Soph Dispatch.
Weedong Yoon
Based in Seoul, Korea, Weedong Yoon is celebrated for his hyper-realistic paintings that often portray stones and sand. These elements of nature act as metaphors for renewal and completion, which are recurring themes in his body of work. Yoon is fascinated by cyclicality in nature, an all-encompassing process comprised of growth, struggle and transformation.
In his Monologue Series, Yoon depicts a stone’s path through sand. The dramatic indent caused by the stone’s impact, and rough debris surrounding the path, symbolize the challenges we experience throughout our lives, while the velvety-smooth planes framing the stone represent serenity and fruition. As such, Yoon’s mesmerizing, almost cinematic portraits of time actually possess a quietly beautiful message of hope — this juxtaposition is what makes his work both visually striking and emotionally resonant. NAMA Gallery represents him at Art Fair Tokyo.
Yurika Kinoshita
Hailing from Saga Prefecture, Yurika Kinoshita is known for her vibrant abstract paintings of flora and fauna. Raised in a family of florists, Kinoshita feels personally attached to the beauty and vivacity of flowers, as they color memories of her childhood with warmth and light. These intimate roots are perhaps echoed by her intuitive painting technique: using her bare hands, the artist traces the free and organic movement of plants. This sensorial approach is instrumental in transferring images from her past onto the canvas.
Kinoshita has also cited Abstract Expressionism as one of her major artistic influences, drawn to the movement’s dynamism and lyricism. Aside from her effortless synthesis of intermingling textures, what stands out most about her spirited works is her bold usage of color; often featuring stark white backgrounds, Kinoshita’s canvases are punctuated with a sprightly verve that doesn’t compromise visual depth. She is represented at the fair by Galerie Taménaga Tokyo.
“Ceci n’est pas an um une Who? (Chilled Baer)” (2023), Simon Fujiwara | Pastel, charcoal and paper collage 63.0 x 96.0 cm (unframed), 74.8 x 107.8 x 3.5 cm (framed) | TARO NASU
Simon Fujiwara
British-Japanese artist Simon Fujiwara, currently based in Berlin, asks how we define the “self” in the 21st century with humor and intertextuality. Working across mediums — from video installations and paintings to immersive “worlds,” — Fujiwara draws from a wide variety of cultural references to render a world fraught with hypermediation and late capitalism in playful, unexpected ways. Fujiwara’s works have been exhibited around the world and he is the recipient of the 2010 Baloise Prize at Art Basel, and the 2010 Frieze Cartier Award.
At this year’s Art Fair Tokyo, Fujiwara is represented by Taro Nasu gallery. “Ceci n’est pas an um une Who? (Chilled Baer)” (2023) epitomizes the artist’s surrealist influences and whimsical approach; it parodies René Magritte’s painting “The Treachery of Images” (1929), which declares “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”) in a seminal meta gesture. Playing around with the concept of reproduction and linguistic conventions, Fujiwara interprets Magritte’s iconic work through his signature character Who the Baer.
“l’effervescence IX” (2025), Kiyo Hasegawa | Japanese pigments on gold leaf, mounted on 4 individual panels 224×156 cm | A Lighthouse Called Kanata
Kiyo Hasegawa
Working with traditional mineral pigments and handmade paper, Kiyo Hasegawa explores the concept of relativity by juxtaposing blank spaces with flowing, smoky strokes of color. Born in Tokyo, Hasegawa teaches at Tama Art University, her alma mater, and has held exhibitions around the world. She is greatly influenced by the fragility and resilience of natural landscapes, likening them to a canvas.
Her captivating piece “l’effervescence IX,” composed of luminous gold leaf panels and floating tendrils of cobalt blue and black, has Buddhist influences. Hasegawa was inspired in part by the nine glowing Amida Buddha statues at Joruriji Temple in Kyoto, and in part by her late grandfather, who recited the sutra “Namu Amida Butsu” in front of the altar every morning. Her works are displayed by A Lighthouse Called Kanata at Art Fair Tokyo 2025.
courtesy of art fair tokyo
