From Friday, July 17 to Friday, July 31, 2026, UNION SQUARE, the first-floor space at BARNEYS NEW YORK GINZA, hosts a double solo exhibition where visitors can experience the worlds of two contemporary artists, itabamoe and SOMETA, at the same time.
itabamoe: NEO MOOD
Known for the tagline "I paint beautiful women," itabamoe captures the shifting beauty of women in today's diverse society in real time, rendering it from a flat, unfiltered perspective.
Acclaimed for her depictions of women, itabamoe's theme for this exhibition is "NEO MOOD," the beginning of a still-unnamed sensibility. Working from digital-style gradient backgrounds, she incorporates motifs such as gold folding screens, kintsugi, and Japanese painting, reinterpreting and fusing the traditional Japanese culture and beauty she has felt throughout her life.
NEO MOOD #024 – Size: H652 × W910 × D30mm – Medium: acrylic, copper leaf on canvas – Year: 2026 – Price: ¥440,000 + tax
NEO JAPANESE #019 – Size: H530 × W652 × D25mm – Medium: acrylic on linen – Year: 2026 – Price: ¥280,000 + tax
SOMETA: RE:IDENTITY
Having begun self-taught digital illustration work, SOMETA gives form to his sensibility using a range of physical media beyond canvas, including game consoles, CD Walkmans, and sneaker boxes.
Under the theme "RE:IDENTITY," this exhibition presents works that redefine and re-edit the things people encountered in childhood, the sensations they have cherished, and the scenery held within themselves — the personal memories that make up "the good things from back then" — turning them into a force that moves everyone forward.
untitled – Size: H530 × W530 × D60mm – Medium: acrylic on canvas – Year: 2026 – Price: ¥256,000 + tax
untitled – Size: H530 × W530 × D60mm – Medium: acrylic on canvas – Year: 2026 – Price: ¥256,000 + tax
Original Goods
Alongside the new artworks, the exhibition also offers original goods that let visitors bring the artists' work closer to everyday life, including T-shirts and keychains.
Sensu folding fan – itabamoe collaboration with HOLOLI – ¥9,900 (tax included)
Furoshiki wrapping cloth – itabamoe collaboration with HOLOLI – ¥6,050 (tax included)
itabamoe TEE 2026 Black/White – ¥13,200 (tax included)
Cartridge Keychain – Size: approx. 6.5cm (H) × 5.7cm (W) – ¥2,750 each (tax included)
Tin Badge Set A/B – Size: 4.4cm diameter, set of 4 – ¥2,200 (tax included)
Visitors are invited to BARNEYS NEW YORK GINZA for this special chance to experience the worlds of itabamoe and SOMETA — two artists who give shape to their sensibilities through different means of expression — at the same time.
Event Details
- Dates: July 17 (Fri) to July 31 (Fri), 2026
- Venue: BARNEYS NEW YORK GINZA, 1F UNION SQUARE
Artist Appearance Schedule
- July 17 (Fri): SOMETA
- July 18 (Sat): itabamoe and SOMETA
- July 19 (Sun): SOMETA
How to Purchase Artworks
All artworks are sold by lottery.
Lottery period: 11:00 AM on July 17 (Fri) through 8:00 PM on July 31 (Fri), 2026
Entries can be submitted via the in-store QR code or the links below.
Lottery entry links
- itabamoe: https://forms.office.com/r/Nr6bM9ANmr
- SOMETA: https://forms.office.com/r/T57KFS0Cfa
The above links become viewable starting 11:00 AM on July 17 (Fri), 2026.
Notes
- Event details are subject to change without notice.
- Entries are limited to one application per artwork.
- In the response field for the artwork you want, indicate that you wish to enter the lottery.
- If you wish to purchase multiple works, select "Multiple Wins Desired" in the multiple-purchase question.
- Overseas shipping is available.
About the Artists
itabamoe
Based in Tokyo. After graduating from Bunka Fashion College, itabamoe worked as an apparel designer before moving into advertising as an illustrator, and began working as an artist in 2021. Building on a career depicting women's imagery in the 2010s advertising industry, she reconstructs illustration as a subject for contemporary art, capturing in real time the shifting beauty of women in today's diverse society. Her work includes the G-SHOCK International Women's Day key visual, the renewal visual for L'Occitane's Shibuya store, Kao Laurier's 40th anniversary collaboration package, the WWD BEAUTY cover visual, the Shibuya Hikarie 9th anniversary visual, a promotional video for Shiseido MAQuillAGE, and a collaboration package with bareMinerals.
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itabamoe/?hl=ja
SOMETA
SOMETA began self-taught digital illustration in 2020 and started working in earnest as an artist from 2022. Drawing on fragments of anime, games, music, and other popular culture and connecting them with a contemporary, SNS-inflected sensibility, SOMETA depicts moments where past and present, and personal and collective memory, intersect, marked by a distinctive sense of time in which nostalgia and novelty arise together. Anonymous-feeling characters and expressionless gazes that blur the outline of emotion symbolize the SNS-era desire and instability of being "needy." Deliberately incorporating blank space and pauses into the composition, the work aims to draw out fluctuations in the viewer's gaze and emotions. Beyond canvas, SOMETA also works on a range of physical media such as game consoles, CD Walkmans, and sneaker boxes — objects that serve as an archive of the artist's own memories and experiences while also acting as a catalyst for collective memory. The illustrations applied to them are light in touch, yet wrap the need for approval, the drifting of emotion, and contemporary loneliness that come with an information-saturated society in pop colors. Weaving together the memories of an era and an individual, the works form a kind of "visual mixtape" that proposes a new relationship between emotion and image.
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/someta_gallery/
