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  • Future Fair | Booth U10 (May 13 - 16, 2026)

    MARINA BERIO, MINÉ OKUBO, ASAKO TABATA Wednesday, May 13: VIP Preview Thursday - Saturday, May 14-16, 2026: Public days Chelsea Industrial 535 W 28th St, New York, NY, 10001 Miné Okubo, Untitled (Girl with Flower), 1973, 54 x 44 in (137.16 x 111.76 cm) SEIZAN Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in Future Fair, taking place May 13 – May 16, 2026, at Chelsea Industrial. The gallery will present works by Marina Berio, Miné Okubo and Asako Tabata. Marina Berio, Through and Not 71, 2012, Charcoal on paper, 40 x 60 in (101.6 x 152.4 cm), 43 x 62.9 x 1.5 in (109.2 x 159.8 x 3.8 cm) Framed Marina Berio (b. 1966, Boston, MA) Berio is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography and text, engaging material processes to examine memory, absence, and the construction of historical narratives. Working with archival fragments, vernacular imagery, and material investigations, she creates layered compositions that blur the boundaries between personal and collective histories. Her ongoing project Family Matter depicts her son and his father, produced using gum bichromate, into which she incorporates unconventional materials as pigments, in this case her own blood. The grainy, brownish-red images hover between documentation and reverie, revealing close-up fragments of intertwined limbs and bodies against plain backgrounds. Although the artist-mother is absent from the frame, she is insistently present, both through her bodily material embedded in the image and through her position behind the camera Berio’s work has been presented in international exhibitions, including a recent historical survey on materiality in photography at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, as well as solo exhibitions in Paris, Buenos Aires, New York, and Hamburg. Miné Okubo, Untitled (Flower in Vase), 1974, 32 x 26 in (81.3 x 66 cm) Miné Okubo (b. 1912, Riverside, CA – d. 2001, New York, NY) Okubo was a pioneering Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) artist whose work as an illustrator and painter occupies a vital place in the history of American modernism. Associated with a generation of Japanese American artists that includes Chiura Obata and Matsusaburo Hibi, she developed a distinctive visual language shaped by both modernist aesthetics and lived experience. Her oeuvre has undergone significant reappraisal in recent years, with renewed institutional attention highlighting its historical and cultural importance. A major traveling exhibition, Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo, curated by Dr. ShiPu Wang, has brought her work to new audiences and is currently on view at the Monterey Museum of Art, with subsequent presentations scheduled at the Japanese American National Museum. Okubo’s works are held in prominent public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Center for Social Justice & Civil Liberties, among others. Asako Tabata, I'll Probably Forget, 2023, Oil on canvas, 10.7 x 8.7 x 0.8 in (27.3 x 22 x 2 cm) Asako Tabata (b. 1972, Kanagawa, Japan) Tabata is a painter whose work emerges from a deeply personal and sustained engagement with domestic life, memory, and quiet observation. After studying painting at Tama Art University, she stepped away from the conventional art world trajectory, continuing to make work while raising a family and maintaining a largely private practice. For many years, she exhibited only occasionally in small galleries in Tokyo, developing her visual language outside of institutional frameworks. Her work gained wider recognition with her first solo exhibition in the United States, Cutting a Loquat Tree, presented at SEIZAN Gallery New York in 2022. Tabata’s paintings reflect an intimate attentiveness to everyday experience, often transforming modest, familiar subjects into contemplative and resonant images. Her work is now included in prominent private collections in both the United States and Japan, marking a growing international appreciation of her practice. For press and inquiries, contact info@seizan-gallery.com

  • Two Discussions on Photography in Japan (Sep 12 & 15, 2025)

    We are pleased to announce two upcoming discussions in Tokyo on contemporary photography. A Dialogue Between Photography and Contemporary Art With: Aya Fujioka, Photographer Yuri Mitsuda, Professor, Tama Art University Pauline Vermare, Philip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum Venue: Tokyo Gendai Pacifico Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minatomirai, Nishi Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa Date & Time: Friday, September 12, 2025, 12:00–1:00 PM Admission: Free with art fair ticket Art critic and writer Yuri Mitsuda moderates a conversation between curator Pauline Vermare and photographer Aya Fujioka. Together, they will explore how contemporary photography intersects with art, examining Fujioka’s work while reflecting on perspectives from both East and West. Fujioka’s award winning series Here Goes River will be featured in SEIZAN Gallery’s booth (A07) at Tokyo Gendai. Find more details. Turning Photography into Books and Exhibitions With: Aya Fujioka, Photographer Kimi Himeno, Founder, AKAAKA Pauline Vermare, Philip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum Venue: BUG Art Gran Tokyo South Tower, 1-9-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Date & Time: Monday, September 15, 2025 (Holiday), 3–5PM Admission: Free. Sign-up from this link. Kimi Himeno, founder of the acclaimed Kyoto-based photo and art book publisher AKAAKA, joins Fujioka and Vermare for a deep dive into the process of creating photo books and exhibitions. Vermare will discuss the recent project I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now, while Fujioka and Himeno reflect on their longstanding collaboration in making books including Fujioka’s upcoming photo book LIFE STUDIES.   Aya Fujioka (Photographer) Born in Hiroshima in 1972. Graduated from the Department of Photography, Nihon University College of Art. Fujioka moved to New York through the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists and stayed there until 2013.  After returning to Hiroshima, she started documenting her hometown and published Here Goes River (AKAAKA). The book received the Kimura Ihei Photography Award and several other prizes. In 2021, she participated in the exhibition Strategies for Responding to Uncomfortable Conversations at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and in 2022 held a solo exhibition at the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography, Nara City. In 2023 and 2024, her work was included in numerous exhibitions in Japan and abroad, including group shows at SEIZAN Gallery New York. Her photographs are held in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This fall, she will publish a new photobook, Life Studies, featuring works created during her stay in New York. Pauline Vermare (Curator, Writer) Born in France, Vermare spent part of her childhood in Tokyo and later studied Japanese at INALCO, Paris. She is a photography historian and curator who has worked at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (Paris), The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the International Center of Photography (ICP), and Magnum Photos (New York). She is currently the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum. A board member of the Saul Leiter Foundation, she co-curated the retrospective All About Saul Leiter at Bunkamura in 2017. In addition to her long-term research on the Irish work of photographer Akihiko Okamura (The Memories of Others, Atelier EXB / Prestel), she co-edited I’m So Happy You Are Here (Aperture/Textuel) in 2024—a survey of Japanese women photographers from the 1950s to the present—and co-curated the accompanying traveling exhibition. Vermare is based in Brooklyn, New York. Yuri Mitsuda (Art Critic, Professor) Born in Hyogo, Japan. Graduated from Kyoto University. Specializing in modern and contemporary art and photography, Mitsuda has served as a curator at the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, The Shoto Museum of Art in Tokyo, and The Museum of Modern Art in Toyama. Her publications include Photography: At the Interface with Art — History of Photography from the 1910s to the 1970s (Seikyusha) and Words and Things: Jiro Takamatsu’s Issue with Japanese Art, 1961–72 (Suiseisha). She currently teaches at Tama Art University. Kimi Himeno (Founder, AKAAKA) Himeno founded AKAAKA in 2006 and has since collaborated with numerous photographers and artists to produce award-winning books, including projects with Masahisa Fukase, Rieko Shiga, and Yurie Nagashima.

  • Hideo Furukawa and Tomoka Shibasaki in conversation with Matthew Sharpe. Moderated by Roland Kelts and Motoyuki Shibata.

    Saturday, May 16, 2026 2pm 525 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001 top left Roland Kelts top middle Hideo Furukawa top right Tomoka Shibasaki bottom right Motoyuki Shibata bottom middle Matthew Sharpe bottom right MONKEY, Vol.6 HORROR Hideo Furukawa and Tomoka Shibasaki in conversation with Matthew Sharpe. Moderated by Roland Kelts and Motoyuki Shibata. Saturday, May 16, 2PM At SEIZAN Gallery, 525 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001 SEIZAN Gallery is excited to host a special event: Hideo Furukawa and Tomoka Shibasaki in conversation with Matthew Sharpe in collaboration with the annual anthology MONKEY . MONKEY’s contributing editor Roland Kelts and MONKEY’s founder Motoyuki Shibata will moderate a wide-ranging conversation among the three acclaimed authors, from a discussion of their latest works to their writing practices. Kendall Heitzman, a principal Furukawa translator, as well as Ted Goossen, MONKEY co founder, will also join the conversation. MONKEY, the Japanese literary journal, and MONKEY New Writing from Japan feature visual work by artists, illustrators, and photographers, including SEIZAN artists Asako Tabata and Motohide Takami. To celebrate this special event, recent paintings by Asa Hiramatsu, a regular MONKEY contributor, will be on view in the gallery, till July 2, 2026. Volumes 3–6 of MONKEY New Writing from Japan will be available for purchase at the gallery.  Hideo Furukawa is one of the most innovative writers in Japan today. His novel Belka, Why Don’t You Bark? was translated by Michael Emmerich; his partly fictional reportage Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima was translated by Doug Slaymaker with Akiko Takenaka; and his short novel Slow Boat was translated by David Boyd. He has received the Noma New Face Prize, Mystery Writers of Japan Award, the Japan SF Grand Prize, and the Yukio Mishima Award. After translating the medieval classic The Tale of the Heike into modern Japanese, he published The Tale of the Heike: The Inu-Oh Chapters in 2017. Inu-Oh, the animated musical film based on the novel, directed by Masaaki Yuasa, was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Golden Globes. The English translation of the novel by Kendall Heitzman will be published under the Monkey imprint in 2027. Matthew Sharpe is the acclaimed author of four novels: The Sleeping Father, Nothing Is Terrible, Jamestown, and You Were Wrong, as well as the collection Stories from the Tube. His latest book, Love in Wartime, translated into Japanese by Motoyuki Shibata, was published in Japan in 2021. He has taught creative writing and literature at Columbia University, Wesleyan University, Bard College, and elsewhere. He lives in Kingston, New York. Tomoka Shibasaki is a novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She published her debut in 2000 when she was 27; it was adapted by Isao Yukisada and released as a film in 2004 (A Day on the Planet). Her 2007 novel Sono machi no ima wa (That Town Today) was awarded the Geijutsu Sensho Newcomers Prize, the Sakunosuke Oda Award, and the Sakuya Konohana Award. In 2010, her novel Awake or Asleep received the Noma New Face Prize; it was adapted into the film Asako I & II by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and screened at Cannes. Shibasaki won the Akutagawa Prize in 2014 for Spring Garden, translated into English by Polly Barton. Her groundbreaking short story collection A Hundred Years and a Day, also translated by Polly Barton, was published under the Monkey imprint with Stone Bridge Press in 2025. In 2026 Shibasaki won the Yomiuri Literary Prize for her 2025 novel Kaerenai Tantei (The Detective Who Couldn’t Go Home).

  • Dallas Art Fair | Booth B6 (April 16 - 19, 2026)

    HIROYOSHI ASAKA, AYA FUJIOKA, ERI IWASAKI, TOSHIYUKI KAJIOKA Thursday, April 16: VIP Preview + Preview Benefit Friday-Sunday, April 17-19: Public Days ​ 1807 Ross Avenue Dallas, Texas 75201 Photographer Silvia Ros. SEIZAN Gallery is pleased to announce its inaugural participation in Dallas Art Fair, taking place April 16 – April 19, 2026, at 1807 Ross Avenue. The gallery will present works by Hiroyoshi Asaka, Aya Fujioka, Eri Iwasaki and Toshiyuki Kajioka. Hiroyoshi Asaka, KASHOUMON -Corner Protection-Ⅲ, 2023, Marble, 5.1 x 5.9 x 5.9 in (13 x 15 x 15 cm)   Hiroyoshi Asaka (b. 1977, Osaka, Japan) Asaka is a sculptor whose work playfully unsettles our assumptions about material and value. Carving marble entirely by hand with self-modified tools, he meticulously recreates the look of lightweight white Styrofoam—an industrial material typically associated with packaging and disposability. The resulting sculptures are striking in their precision: blocks, box lids, and fragments that appear casually ordinary at first glance, yet reveal themselves, upon closer inspection, to be painstakingly carved stone. In working with marble—a material historically central to the Western sculptural canon—Asaka brings the quietly rigorous spirit of Japanese kōgei, in which a maker devotes themselves to a single material and technique, allowing the artwork to emerge not from preconceived form but from an intimate, sustained dialogue with the material itself. His practice also resonates with postwar Japan's Mono-ha movement, which foregrounded raw materials and their inherent properties; like the Mono-ha artists, Asaka draws our attention to the essential nature of his medium, yet subverts expectation by transforming noble stone into the guise of the utterly disposable.   Aya Fujioka, IPÊ-ROSA, 2002/2026, Chromogenic print, 23.6 x 35.4 in (60 x 90 cm) Aya Fujioka (b. 1972, Hiroshima, Japan) Award-winning photographer Aya Fujioka presents her never-before-seen series IPÊ-ROSA, a body of work over two decades in the making. The project traces the hidden history of her grandmother Kimie, who was born in 1918 to Japanese immigrants in São Paulo, Brazil, and returned to Hiroshima with her family just before World War II. Beginning in 2002, shortly after Kimie's passing, Fujioka traveled to Brazil to recover her grandmother's silenced past, welcomed by elders of the Japanese immigrant community who shared memories of longing for Japan and love for their adopted land. The chronicle gradually turns inward, becoming Fujioka's own story of absorbing and making sense of her family's history and the weight her country carries. The title refers to one of Brazil's national flowers, whose pink blossoms evoke the cherry trees of Japan for many who emigrated. Spanning two journeys across ten years, the work weaves personal and collective memory, rooted in the Henri Cartier-Bresson tradition of documentary photography that would come to define her acclaimed series Here Goes River (2017). Eri Iwasaki, Dust Bunny - In a Small Corner of the World, 2025, Natural mineral pigment, platinum paint, gofun, akatsuchi on washi paper (kozo) mounted on wood panel, 51.3 x 63.8 x 1.4 in (130.3 x 162 x 3.5 cm)   Eri Iwasaki (b. 1968, Hyogo, Japan) Iwasaki is a contemporary Nihonga painter who reanimates traditional Japanese materials and techniques to create quietly powerful, otherworldly portraits. Working with mineral pigments, gold leaf, and platinum paint, she constructs luminous figures of women and children that seem to emerge from velvety, pitch-dark grounds—at once earthly and celestial. Their faces carry the serene, inscrutable expressions of deities, inevitably reflecting the influence of Buddhist sculptures and painted scrolls that permeate her daily life in Kyoto. Yet this transcendence is rooted in lived witness: for years, Iwasaki has worked as a courtroom illustrator, observing firsthand the moments when people are unjustly crushed by circumstance and society. It is precisely this experience that drives her desire to portray the strength and dignity of the vulnerable—figures who, despite everything, refuse to be diminished. Her vision finds resonance with the literary worlds of Mieko Kawakami and Sayaka Murata, Japanese women novelists now gaining wide international readership for their unflinching portrayals of those on society's margins, as well as with contemporary painters such as Sasha Gordon and Hayv Kahraman, who similarly center the quiet power of female and marginalized subjects.  Toshiyuki Kajioka, Mujou / Impermanence, 2024, Sumi Ink, pencil on washi paper (Kochi Mashi) mounted on wood panel, 89.5 x 71.6 x 1.5 in (227.3 x 181.8 x 3.8 cm) Toshiyuki Kajioka (b. 1978 in Tokyo, Japan) Toshiyuki Kajioka has stoically painted the same subject for twenty years: the surface of a flowing river. Viewed from afar, his paintings present a monolithic, near-impenetrable surface. Up close, they reveal painstakingly detailed brushwork in sumi ink and graphite pencil, depicting the layered, ever-shifting movement of water. Kajioka's process begins with evening visits to a neighboring river or lake, where he observes the water's surface for hours in near-darkness. Back in his studio, he paints from accumulated memory, seeking to capture the sense of awe he experiences alone in the pitch dark. Deeply rooted in the East Asian tradition of ink painting—and in the Japanese artistic discipline of committing wholly to a single material and method—Kajioka's transcendent work inevitably comes full circle to the masters of Western abstraction such as Ad Reinhardt and Mark Rothko, whose paintings, whether the artists themselves acknowledged it or not, were profoundly shaped by Zen philosophy. For press and inquiries, contact info@seizan-gallery.com

  • Asia Week New York Preview: Exploring Photography from Tradition to Innovation

    Panel Discussion on Asian Influences and Contemporary Practice Thursday, March 12, 6.30 PM - 8.30PM Thanh Hoa Whiteware Bowl, Ly-Tran Dynasty, 13th-14th c., Vietnam, 23.6 x 47.2 in (60 x 120 cm) Copyright Eric J. Zetterquist, 2021 Asia Week New York invites art enthusiasts and collectors to an exclusive preview event on Thursday, March 12, 2026. In partnership with the SIGMA Foundation, this special event will feature a distinguished panel of artists, a curator, and an industry expert discussing the evolution of photographic practice—from its historical roots to today’s bold contemporary expressions. The event marks the official kickoff of Asia Week New York, running March 19–27, 2026, a week-long celebration of Asian art, culture, and creativity, offering attendees an inspiring first look at the programs and exhibitions ahead. The Art and Craft of Photography: From Asian Traditions to Contemporary Practice will explore how photography has developed over time, highlighting the influence of Japanese and broader Asian traditions on modern work and its significance in the global art scene. Panelists will examine the dynamic interplay between tradition and experimentation, the impact of technological innovation on artistic vision, and the curatorial opportunities and challenges of presenting Japanese photography to international audiences. Covering postwar photo narratives through contemporary abstraction, the discussion promises to illuminate the ongoing dialogue between history, craft, and creative reinvention. About the Distinguished Panel: Gen Aihara is a Japanese photographer whose work investigates the interplay of materiality, light, and abstraction. Working primarily with photograms—one of photography’s earliest processes—Aihara creates images by placing and manipulating elements such as water directly on photosensitive paper and exposing them to light. Rooted in historic photographic techniques, his practice bridges past and present, transforming analog methods into a contemporary visual language. In addition to his own artistic practice, Aihara serves as production and installation manager for Hiroshi Sugimoto. This dual perspective informs his work, blending deep technical expertise with a visionary approach to contemporary photography. Maggie Mustard is Assistant Curator of Photography in the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs at The New York Public Library. An educator, curator, and art historian, she earned her PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University, focusing on memory and photographic representation in the work of Japanese postwar photographer Kawada Kikuji. Previously, she served as Chief Curatorial Advisor for The Incomplete Araki: Sex, Life, and Death in the Works of Nobuyoshi Araki,, was the Marcia Tucker Senior Research Fellow at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University. Her recent curated exhibitions at NYPL include New York Subways 1977: Alen MacWeeney and The Awe of the Arctic: A Visual History. Kazuto Yamaki is the Founder of the SIGMA Foundation and CEO of SIGMA Corporation. Born in Tokyo in 1968, he joined SIGMA in 1993 after graduating from Sophia University Graduate School. He became Corporate Planning Director in 2000, Executive Vice President in 2003, and President of the Corporation in 2005, later assuming the role of Executive Officer in 2012. Eric Zetterquist, Artist Zetterquist draws on a millennium-old Chinese tradition of painting portraits of art objects to celebrate their beauty and the accomplishments of collectors. Following this practice, he creates portraits of Asian ceramics dating from 2500 B.C. to 1400 A.D., isolating forms and emphasizing the negative space they create. His large-scale, black-and-white images with “painterly” edges and matte textured surfaces evoke Asian calligraphy and offer what he calls “warm minimalist” abstractions. Not merely photographs of objects, Zetterquist’s work challenge their viewers to explore concepts of form and negative space in both ancient and contemporary contexts, and remind us that we are part of a human chain that stretches back through the millennia, whose core values of beauty and artistic integrity are stalwart. About Asia Week New York Asia Week New York is a nine-day celebration, bringing together top-tier international Asian art galleries, the six major auction houses, 27 museums, and Asian cultural institutions. It features simultaneous gallery open houses, Asian art auctions, museum exhibitions, lectures, and special events. Participants from the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States unveil an extraordinary array of museum-quality treasures from China, India, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, and Korea. Asia Week New York Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade membership organization registered with the state of New York. About SIGMA Foundation The Sigma Foundation was founded by Kazuto Yamaki, president of Sigma Corporation, to support and promote photography as an art form. Sigma is a Japanese manufacturer of photographic lenses and cameras. A deep respect for the arts guides Sigma’s engineering, as the company continues to develop and innovate products that support the passion of artists. As part of their commitment to supporting the arts, Sigma Foundation collaborates with artists from around the world to produce and showcase their work, regardless of whether they use Sigma products. Press Contacts Allison Brainard Associate Director, Cultural Counsel allison@culturalcounsel.com Jane Drinkard Account Executive, Cultural Counsel jane@culturalcounsel.com

  • GALLERY TALK: “AWAI”

    GALLERY TALK: “AWAI” With Marina Berio, Aya Fujioka, and Asa HiramatsuModerated by Pauline Vermare, Philip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum Saturday, October 25, 2025, 2–4pm As part of the group exhibition AWAI , opening October 23, 2025, SEIZAN Gallery invites you to a conversation with the three exhibiting artists—Marina Berio, Aya Fujioka, and Asa Hiramatsu—moderated by Pauline Vermare of the Brooklyn Museum.Derived from classical Japanese, Awai  refers to an in-between realm or liminal space where two entities meet, overlap, or interact. It evokes the subtle threshold between dualities—light and shadow, self and other, reality and dream. In this discussion, the artists will reflect on how their distinct practices embody and explore the delicate and multifaceted notion of Awai . Marina Berio  (b. 1966, Boston, MA) is an interdisciplinary artist whose charcoal drawings reinterpret the photographic negative as a poetic space of loss, doubt, and transformation. Created between 2007 and 2012, these works invert light and shadow—sunlit fields appear as voids, and studio lamps as celestial forms—evoking the tension between presence and absence. Additionally, Berio presents three new works from her ongoing series of gum bichromate prints, a 19th-century photographic process that uses light-sensitive dichromates instead of silver halides. Using unconventional pigments such as her own blood, she transforms family photographs into intimate, visceral meditations that merge the body with memory and image. Berio earned her MFA in Photography from Bard College and has received awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Pollock/Krasner Foundation, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Galerie Miranda (Paris), Galería Phuyu (Buenos Aires), Michael Steinberg Fine Art (New York), and in a major survey at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.   Aya Fujioka  (b. 1972, Hiroshima, Japan) presents selected works from LIFE STUDIES , a recently published series from AKAAKA in Kyoto based on photographs she took in New York from the late 2000s to the 2010s. Influenced by the street-photography tradition of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fujioka captures fleeting moments of urban life that hover between the ordinary and the uncanny, the intimate and the anonymous. Taken during her years in New York as an emerging photographer, these images trace a personal yet universal search for presence and belonging. Fujioka studied photography at Nihon University College of Art and lived in New York from 2007 to 2013 through a fellowship from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Her photobook Here Goes River (AKAAKA, 2017) received the Kimura Ihei Award, and her work has been exhibited widely, including at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography, Nara. Her work is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She lives and works in Kyoto.   Asa Hiramatsu  (b. 1982, Tokyo, Japan) is a self-taught painter presenting six new canvases in her U.S. debut. Working primarily with a palette knife or her hands, she creates textured, muted surfaces that evoke quiet introspection. Her imagery—simple objects and abstract forms suspended in dreamlike color fields—emerges from visceral necessity rather than formal lineage. “These are images I’ve been holding inside my body since childhood,” she explains. Recurring motifs such as clouds and seesaws reflect her poetic sensibility and fascination with balance, weight, and the space between reality and imagination. Hiramatsu studied Linguistics at the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, and her multidisciplinary practice spans oil painting, collage, illustration, and kamishibai. Her work has been exhibited at 104 GALERIE and LOKO Gallery (Tokyo), and she recently completed a residency at photographer Saul Leiter’s New York studio, contributing to Saul Leiter: The Centennial Retrospective  (Thames & Hudson, 2024).   Pauline Vermare  (b. 1978, France) is a photography historian and curator. Raised partly in Tokyo, she later studied Japanese at INALCO in Paris. Vermare has held curatorial positions at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson (Paris), The Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography, and Magnum Photos (New York). She is currently the Philip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography  at the Brooklyn Museum . A board member of the Saul Leiter Foundation, she co-curated All About Saul Leiter: A Retrospective (Bunkamura, 2017). Her long-term research on photographer Akihiko Okamura culminated in The Memories of Others  (Atelier EXB / Prestel), and she recently co-edited I’m So Happy You Are Here (Aperture / Textuel), a survey of Japanese women photographers from the 1950s to the present, and co-curated its accompanying traveling exhibition. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.

  • Artist Talk with Aya Fujioka (Nov 11, 2-3pm)

    Artist Talk with Aya Fujioka Saturday, November 11th, 2-3pm Please join us for an Artist Talk with photographer Aya Fujioka on Saturday, November 11th, 2-3pm. She will be in conversation with art historian Emiko Inoue. They will discuss Fujioka's award-winning series Here Goes River , on view at SEIZAN Gallery New York as part of the group exhibition, Things She Carries . Here Goes River is a tranquil, private documentation of Fujioka's hometown, Hiroshima. Nearly 160 photos show scenes from everyday life around the delta area of Hiroshima, the site of the atomic bomb devastation 70 years ago. Mundane scenes against a backdrop of historic disaster are captured: people gathering in front of a TV showing news of President Obama’s visits to the city; high school students practicing a dance choreography with the iconic Atomic Bomb Dome in the background. For the Artist Talk, Fujioka will discuss how the series started as a personal chronicle, and her struggles to document the city so heavily burdened with history. Aya Fujioka (b. 1972 ) was born in Hiroshima and studied photography at Nihon University College of Art in Tokyo. With a scholarship from the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan, she stayed in New York from 2007 through 2012 and created the series Life Studies . After returning to her hometown Hiroshima, she completed Here Goes River , which won her numerous awards including the Kimura Ihei Photography Award and the Hayashi Tadahiko Award. Fujioka’s works have been exhibited at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, The National Art Center in Tokyo, Hiroshima Prefectural Museum, Higashi-Hiroshima City Museum of Art, and Spiral Gallery in Tokyo among many others. Fujioka currently lives and works in Higashi Hiroshima City in Japan. Soft drinks and refreshments will be served. Sign-Up for the event here . Image: Aya Fujioka, Here Goes River (74) , 2017. ©Aya Fujioka

  • Tokyo Gendai | Booth A07 (September 11-14, 2025)

    SEIZAN Gallery is pleased to announce its inaugural participation in Tokyo Gendai, taking place September 11–14, 2025, at Pacifico Yokohama. The gallery will present works by Aya Fujioka, Alex Ito, and Toshiyuki Kajioka. Photographer Aya Fujioka  (b. 1972, Hiroshima, Japan) presents Here Goes River , an award-winning series capturing her hometown of Hiroshima between 2013 and 2017. Initially aiming to depict a Hiroshima not solely defined by its tragic past, Fujioka created a deeply personal and unembellished record of the city as it exists today. The project became a means for the artist to re-embrace her hometown while portraying the reality of contemporary Hiroshima, now eighty years after the historic tragedy. Fujioka was awarded the prestigious Kimura Ihei Award for Here Goes River , and her work has been widely exhibited, including at The National Art Center, Tokyo; the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; and the Irie Taikichi Memorial Museum of Photography Nara City, among others. Alex Ito  (b. 1991, USA) crafts sculptural works using silver-nitrate chromed resin on fiberglass and oxidized iron powder. Their chemically reactive surfaces act not as mirrors but as unstable, ephemeral reflectors—fracturing and refracting memory and identity. Ito also presents assemblages referencing his Japanese American heritage, including ikebana-inspired forms, archival photographs, and documents from his grandfather, who was incarcerated during World War II. Ito’s work has been exhibited at prominent institutions across the U.S. and Europe. In 2025, Ito was featured in the group exhibition OTHER WORLD/S  at the Schneider Museum of Art in Oregon. Toshiyuki Kajioka  (b. 1978, Japan) is known for his ongoing “Waterscape” series—delicate yet monumental paintings created with sumi ink and graphite on washi paper. Composed of layered, meticulously brushed water imagery, the works draw from the artist’s meditative observation of rivers and lakescapes. They evoke a timeless space where memory and presence converge, bridging nature and abstraction. For Tokyo Gendai, Kajioka also debuts a new body of work: abstract depictions of forests rendered in washi paper, ink, and pencil. His works have been exhibited at SEIZAN Gallery, Chicago Expo, Art on Paper, among others.   SEIZAN Gallery at Tokyo Gendai Booth A07   Pacifico Yokohama 1-1-1   Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku Yokohama 220-0012, Japan   VIP Preview (Invitation Only) & Vernissage Thursday, September 11   General Admission: September 12-14 Top image: Alex Ito This Is the Way , 2020 Silver nitrate chromed resin, foam, oxidized iron powder, steel 30 x 30 x 30 in (76.2 x 76.2 x 76.2 cm) Photo by Thomas Barratt Aya Fujioka Here Goes River (112) , 2017 Edition 3 of 8 Chromogenic print ©︎ Aya Fujioka Toshiyuki Kajioka Mujou / Impermanence , 2024 Sumi Ink, pencil on Japanese paper (Kochi Mashi) mounted on wood panel 89.5 x 71.6 x 1.5 in (227.3 x 181.8 x 3.8 cm) Photo by GION

  • SEATTLE ART FAIR, 2019

    SEATTLE ART FAIR AUGUST 1-4, 2019 CENTURYLINK FIELD EVENT CENTER SEIZAN Gallery has been selected to participate in the 2019 edition of the Seattle Art Fair . For the fair, SEIZAN Gallery will present a selection of paintings from Japanese artists that include Yasuko Hasumura , Yasushi Ikejiri , Yuichi Inoue , Haruomi Izumi , Toshiyuki Kajioka , Yayoi Kusama , and Toko Shinoda . SEIZAN is pleased to join the fifth edition of the Seattle Art Fair, and to present a cutting-edge selection of contemporary Japanese art. Each artist chosen for the SEIZAN Gallery booth pursues a fresh view of the world with their distinctive style and extraordinary skill gained through their dedication to enduring practices of Japanese painting. For more information on the Seattle Art Fair and how to purchase tickets, please visit the fair’s website. Photos by Robert Wade

  • CHICAGO/SOFA ONLINE, 2020

    SEIZAN Gallery is proud to be an exhibitor with Intersected Chicago Virtual Fair (Formerly SOFA) for the 2020 edition due to COVID-19. Live online from November 6-12, 2020 at Intersect Chicago with a dedicated VIP Preview Day by invitation only on November 5. The fair will be open to the public, virtually, from November 6 at 12am ET through November 12 at 9pm ET. SEIZAN Gallery will present selected works by contemporary Japanese painters Yasuko Hasumura , Haruomi Izumi , Shigemi Yasuhara and by acclaimed Swiss sculptor Étienne Krähenbüh l . About Intersect Chicago The fair is the evolution of SOFA – Sculpture Objects Functional Art. It is the intersection of art, design, and objects. SOFA includes daily highlights on Glass, Contemporary Art, Design, Ceramic and Craft, Outsider Art, Fiber, and Public Art / Sculpture. Intersect Chicago will feature institutions from around the globe with dedicated programming and a selection of galleries showcasing work of these disciplines. Visit the Fair on Artsy Intersect Chicago has partnered with Artsy, the global marketplace for discovering and collecting art. In addition to accessing the fair through the Intersect Chicago website, visitors may also visit the fair through Artsy. As Intersect Chicago’s Main Marketplace Partner, Artsy will provide a unique opportunity for exhibiting galleries to promote their virtual booths to Artsy’s global audience. Collectors can experience Intersect Chicago on Artsy to discover artists, save favorite works, as well as view works on their home walls through Artsy's AR mobile tool to directly purchase work from galleries. Join the Conversation Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @sofaexpo and hashtags #IntersectChicago and #IntersectFairs. Intersect Chicago Contact: Ashlin Ballif, ashlin@vgmgt.com SEIZAN Gallery Contact: director@seizan-gallery.com Image: Haruomi Izumi The Eternal Hour , 2019 Natural mineral pigment on Japanese paper mounted on wood panel 38.2 x 63.8 x 0.8 inches (97 x 162 x 2 cm) Photo by GION

  • ART ON PAPER NEW YORK, 2020

    ART ON PAPER 2020 MARCH 5 - 8, 2020 PIER 36 299 SOUTH STREET NEW YORK, 10002 SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo | New York is pleased to announce the gallery’s participation in the 2020 edition of Art on Paper . Our presentation will showcase a selection of contemporary artists who have mastered traditional materials and techniques, including hand-made washi paper. Featured Artists: Yasuko Hasumura Eri Iwasaki Haruomi Izumi Toshiyuki Kajioka Hasui Kawase Étienne Krähenbühl To request a preview please contact us via email info@seizan-gallery.com For more information on Art on Paper and how visitors can purchase tickets, please visit the Fair’s website . Top: Toshiyuki Kajioka Hyohaku / Spiritual Darkness , 2017 Ink, pencil on hemp paper mounted on wood panel 63.9 x 63.9 x 1.4 in (162.2 x 162.2 x 3.5 cm) Middle: Étienne Krähenbühl Plastique , 7 June 2018 Monotype 22 x 29.5 inches (55.9 x 74.9 cm) Bottom: Yasuko Hasumura Yo / Within the Wind – Embrace , 2010 Ink, Japanese paper on canvas mounted on wood panel 51.3 x 63.8 x 1.2 in (130.3 x 162 x 3 cm)

  • MARKET ART & DESIGN THE HAMPTONS, 2021

    SEIZAN Gallery Tokyo, New York is delighted to announce our participation for the first time ever in Market Art & Design The Hamptons . It takes place at The Bridgehampton Museum from August 12 through 15. We will present new and recent work of three women artists: Yasuko Hasumura, Eri Iwasaki and Rose Morant. Each artist masterfully utilizes traditional materials of art making as they explore their unique vision in highly contemporary expressions. Yasuko Hasumura (b.1958, Hokkaido, Japan) manipulates Japanese washi paper and sumi ink into a unique abstract expression, capturing air, light or a fleeting instant onto canvas. Hasumura studied oil painting at Tama Art University and contemporary art theory under Lee Ufan. Greatly influenced by her encounter with Noh theatre, which she describes as a “soul-trembling experience,” Hasumura recreates this experience onto canvas. Eri Iwasaki (b. 1968, Hyogo, Japan) circumvents the boundaries of Nihonga, the traditional Japanese painting style. While exploring new techniques via the traditional mediums of mineral pigments, shell powders and gold leaves, Iwasaki powerfully interprets her favorite subjects: nuanced portraits of women and children. Amid haunting dreamlike atmospheres, the strong and willful faces of Iwasaki's portraits appear both real and divine; archaic and contemporary. Rose Morant (b. 1963, Paris, France) has extensive experience of working with artisans in Asia as a collaborator with European luxury fashion and homeware brands. After changing careers and becoming a full-time artist, she began creating sculptural works made of “flower powder.” The powder is derived from dried petals collected from a pagoda in Myanmar and mixed with black lacquer by a local family of artisans. With this unique and vernacular material, Morant presents rhythmic sculptures and golden panels which offer the viewer an epiphanic yet serene experience of strolling in nature. DOWNLOAD ARTIST BIO DOWNLOAD LIST OF WORKS SEIZAN Gallery : Booth B33 General Hours Select VIP Preview: Thursday, Aug 12th - 1:00-5:00 Opening Evening: Thursday, Aug 12th - 5:00-9:00 Public Hours: Aug 13th - 11:00-7:00 Aug 14th - 11:00-7:00 Aug 15th - 11:00-6:00 Location: The Bridgehampton Museum 2368 Montauk Highway Bridgehampton, NY 11932 https://artmarkethamptons.com/ Image: Eri Iwasaki. Tiny Night , Tiny Light, 2021. Mineral pigment, gofun, gold leaf on Japanese paper mounted on wood panel. 35.8 x 35.8 inches (91 x 91 cm) Photo by GION

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