Tokyo International Gallery will hold "ANIMATE," a solo exhibition by Asuka Watanabe, starting November 7 (Saturday), 2026.
Overview
Working across a wide range of fields including art, design, and art direction, Watanabe is also known for the main visual of FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL, which Watanabe has handled since 2017. Although the work cuts across disciplines, the style of depicting animals, plants, and landscapes in flat, impactful forms and vivid colors has a distinctiveness that is recognizable at a glance.
For Watanabe, who has depicted natural motifs in clear colors and forms, the word "animate" — which means to breathe life or spirit into something, or to give it movement — may be said to be a theme running through the entire body of work. Throughout history, the act of an artist who creates works that appeal to the senses from mere materials has often been likened to the creative act of a god breathing life into nature. However, what interests Watanabe about the theme of "animate" is said to be the very fact that something begins to move and a sense of life emerges there. For this reason, in this exhibition the word can be understood less as a being that grants life in one direction and more as referring to the multidirectional relationships that arise between artist and work, and between work and viewer.
In the works for this exhibition, Watanabe arranges multiple color planes, shapes, and motifs within a single picture and attempts to compose the whole as one visual. The images blend into one another within the picture, and at times their identity and boundaries become ambiguous. An undulating line can look like a mountain ridgeline, a flow of water or air, or a decorative pattern. Animism, a word that shares its etymology with "animate," refers to the idea that souls reside in all things, including humans, animals, objects, and natural phenomena. In this sense, what emerges from Watanabe's works, in which the organic and the inorganic, the figurative and the abstract, intermingle, may be said to be the sensation of anima — soul and life — itself.
The exhibition presents a body of work in which a sense of life rises from compositions of color and form and opens outward to viewers.
Exhibition Statement
Plants stretch upward. Light shifts. Wind passes through. Whether visible or invisible, something around us is constantly moving and changing.
Tracing the origin of the word ANIMATE leads to the Latin anima, a word said to mean breath, life, and soul. To breathe life into something, for it to begin to move, to give it life — these were originally all contained in a single word.
I am interested in creating movement and rhythm within a still picture through the placement, overlap, and repetition of colors and forms. Depending on where and how far away one stands, and on how each person perceives it, the forms seem to move or begin to look like something else.
Starting from images I have seen around me or that remain in my memory — plants, birds, stars, light, landscapes — I translate them into color and form. Moving back and forth between the figurative and the abstract, I try to create time and movement within a still picture.
The central group of works in this exhibition adopts compositions reminiscent of posters. A poster is originally meant to convey information or a message, but here, rather than presenting a specific meaning, I have attempted pictures in which the colors and forms themselves act on the viewer.
For me, making is giving form to the sensations I have received from the world. By opening them outward, the works leave my hands and connect with each viewer's own memories and sensations.
ANIMATE is an exhibition that explores the movement and sense of life that arise within a still painting.
Artist Profile
Asuka Watanabe
Biography
- 1985: Born in Nagano Prefecture
- 2008: Graduated from Tama Art University (多摩美術大学 造形表現学部 デザイン学科)
- 2008–2010: Worked at Hakuhodo Products Inc. (株式会社博報堂プロダクツ)
- 2010: Became independent and began working as a freelancer
- 2013–2015: Studied abroad in Los Angeles
- 2017–present: In charge of the main visual of FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL
- 2018–2022: Worked at WeWork Japan as Art & Graphics Lead
- 2024–present: Involved in direction and curation at K ART GALLERY in Omotesando, Tokyo
An artist and art director born in Nagano Prefecture and based in Tokyo. Observing the natural rhythms that exist in everyday surroundings, such as the growth of plants and the changing sky, light, and landscapes, Watanabe expresses them through geometric forms and vivid colors. With a background in graphic design, the work extends beyond the flat surface to include paintings, murals, installations, and works for spaces. In addition to continuing to handle the main visual of FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL since 2017, Watanabe creates artwork in a variety of fields, including music, architecture, hotels, and public spaces.
Exhibition Details
Title: ANIMATE
Artist: Asuka Watanabe
Venue: Tokyo International Gallery
Address: TERRADA ART COMPLEX II 2F, 1-32-8 Higashi-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo
Dates: November 7 (Saturday) – December 26 (Saturday), 2026
Hours: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Closed: Sundays, Mondays, and national holidays (Tuesdays by advance reservation only)
Opening Reception
Date and time: November 7 (Saturday), 2026, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Venue: Tokyo International Gallery
No reservation is required, and admission is free.
