Gallery Butaiura in Azabudai Hills will host artist Natsuko Tanihara's solo exhibition "Banquet" from September 4 (Friday) to October 11 (Sunday), 2026.
The exhibition unveils a new series of works painted on velvet in vivid colors around the theme of "Banquet," alongside a one-night-only banquet dinner event during the run that lets visitors experience the exhibition's world through food.
A reservation-based reception is planned for September 4 (Friday) starting at 6:00 PM (free admission, reservation required, ticketed).
Organizer's Comment
Gallery Butaiura will present Natsuko Tanihara's solo exhibition "Banquet."
Tanihara completed her doctoral program at the Kyoto City University of Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2021 and is currently based in the Kansai region. Her work depicts "a beauty formed by blending her own negative memories with the darkness of humanity," and she is known for using red and black velvet as a support, with sequins, glitter, and metallic powder, to render fantastical narratives. In recent years, her work has entered the collections of several museums, including the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Ohara Museum of Art, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, and The Tokushima Modern Art Museum, as she continues to expand the scope of her practice.
For this exhibition, Tanihara has created a new body of work set around a "banquet" scene. The exhibition space unfolds into a lavish feast rendered in vivid color: an overflowing abundance of fine food and wine, and people reveling in the pleasures of life. But this feast is by no means an eternal blessing extended to everyone. Behind this glittering world lies a reality governed by imbalance, with a raging current closing in just beneath our feet. Even as the reality of war draws near, even as someone seated at the same table sinks into darkness, the indifferent guests at the feast never notice the horror around them. Through her work, Tanihara asks a question about the fleeting pleasure of living in this moment, and the cold ethics of a humanity unable to accept the horror right before its eyes.
As a viewer, you too cannot remain an uninvolved bystander. Before the world sinks into darkness, please enjoy this sweet and seductive banquet.
Artist's Comment
An Invitation to the Banquet
Natsuko Tanihara
Even when collapse is bearing down on us, even when we are on the verge of being swallowed by a raging current, perhaps we simply fail to notice the danger. Or perhaps, even if we do notice, we look away and convince ourselves that it's still all right.
When war breaks out in a distant country and many lives are lost, it can feel like something far removed from our everyday lives. But its effects quietly seep into our lives as rising prices and social change, eroding us before we even notice. Even so, people cannot accept it as their own problem until collapse is right in front of them.
The world is like a single dining table.
Colorful dishes are laid out there, and people talk, laugh, and share drinks. But because of where one sits, the balance of power, and deference or vanity toward others, not everyone shares equally in its blessings. Even when food is right in front of them, not every guest is given the same cutlery. We are governed not only by the plate in front of us but also by the glances and atmosphere around us. Sometimes we can't reach out even when we believe it's right; other times we find ourselves walking in the same direction as everyone else.
And when someone seated at the far end of the table sinks into darkness, those seated far away keep talking and keep enjoying their meal. They believe it has nothing to do with them. But the darkness quietly spreads across the table, swallowing one person, then another. By the time the ground beneath one's own feet finally begins to give way, there is no longer any way to escape.
That is why this work, too, is a kind of "Last Supper."
He, she, the lavish dishes, the candlesticks, even the cutlery — all of it will eventually fall into darkness, and the same banquet will never come again.
That is precisely why, until that day comes, people eat, talk, love, seek out beauty, and hold their feasts.
Before everything falls and is lost, I hope you, too, can savor the special dishes and fine wine laid out at this banquet.
Banquet, oil on velvet, acrylic, oil pastel, glitter, and rhinestones, 2026
©Natsuko Tanihara, courtesy MEM
Natsuko Tanihara's Banquet Dinner
Natsuko Tanihara's solo exhibition "Banquet" is being held at Gallery Butaiura in Azabudai Hills. On September 13 (Sunday), 2026, starting at 6:00 PM, Tanihara herself will host a banquet dinner.
Guests can enjoy a special menu created exclusively for this exhibition by chef Romi Ogawa, who spent 14 years working at a bakery in Tokyo and gained experience in France.
The artist will also be present on the day.
Sample Menu (subject to change based on ingredient availability)
Food (examples):
Amuse-bouche
- Champagne and a touch of caviar — "Luxury and blessing, the beginning of the feast"
Entrée
- Fig and flower salad — "A flower blooms beautifully even as it withers"
Main
- Hachis parmentier — "The boundary between meat and earth, life and death"
Pre-dessert
- Fromage blanc — "Purification, stillness"
- Fromage blanc topped with lychee sorbet, olive oil, and a touch of fleur de sel — "The heat of the celebration quietly settles"
Dessert
- "The emptiness and ending that arrive with the close of the celebration"
Drinks (examples): Assorted wines and beer, soft drinks. Drink charges are billed separately at the venue on the day.
Date and Time: Choose one of the following:
- September 13 (Sunday), 2026 at 6:00 PM
- October 4 (Sunday), 2026 at 6:00 PM
Price: ¥10,000 (tax included) per person
Capacity: 7 guests per session
Venue: Gallery Butaiura
Duration: Approximately 120 minutes
Please note that any dietary allergies should be entered in the survey shown at the end of the reservation screen, and any requests regarding food or drinks are welcome upon inquiry.
Artist Profile
Photo by Kazuo Fukunaga
Natsuko Tanihara
Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1989. She completed her doctoral program at the Kyoto City University of Arts Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2021. Her honors include the 7th Koji Kinutani Award (2015), the VOCA Encouragement Prize (2016), the 39th Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Award Encouragement Prize and the Sakuyakonohana Award (2021), the 2025 Hyogo Prefecture Arts Encouragement Award, and the Fumiko Kametaka Memorial Sekisousha Award. Working on black and red velvet as her support, she uses oil paint and acrylic alongside glitter, sequins, and metallic powder to depict "a beauty formed by blending her own negative memories with the darkness of humanity." After receiving the Goto Memorial Cultural Award New Face Prize in 2017, she spent a year training in Paris. In 2021 she took part in the National Institute of Japanese Literature's artist-in-residence program, the "Naijeru Art Creation Lab" (ないじぇる芸術創生ラボ), producing works inspired by classical Japanese texts. In 2022 she created puppet designs and promotional artwork for the Edo-period string-puppet theater troupe Yuki-za (結城座), and has since collaborated with other traditional performing arts such as Bunraku and Noh. Her work is held in public collections including the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Ohara Museum of Art, Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka, and The Tokushima Modern Art Museum.
Instagram: @natsuko_tanihara
Information
Natsuko Tanihara Solo Exhibition "Banquet"
Period: September 4 (Friday) to October 11 (Sunday), 2026
※ Reception: planned for September 4 (Friday) from 6:00 PM (free admission, reservation required, ticketed)
※ Natsuko Tanihara's Banquet Dinner: September 13 (Sunday) from 6:00 PM (reservation required, paid)
Artist: Natsuko Tanihara
Hours: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Closed: Mondays (if a Monday falls on a public holiday, the gallery is closed the following day instead)
Admission: Free
Venue: Gallery Butaiura (Gallery 舞台裏)
Address: 5-8-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001, Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A B1F
Access: 1-minute walk from Exit 5 of Kamiyacho Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line (direct station connection); elevator available, barrier-free; wheelchair and stroller access available
Organizer: ArtSticker (operated by The Chain Museum)
Cooperation: MEM
Exhibition Details: https://artsticker.app/events/147116
Gallery Butaiura
Gallery Butaiura is an art gallery produced by The Chain Museum, the company behind ArtSticker. Just as performers and audiences might speak intimately backstage in the afterglow of a stage performance, the space is designed to hold not only the viewing of artwork but also encounters between people. Its program spans veteran artists who have shaped global art history to rising talents drawing intense attention, at times incorporating elements of food or performance.
The space itself is built from little more than a steel-pipe frame hung with temporary exhibition walls. Within a modest 26-tsubo footprint, differences in floor height, lighting brightness and color temperature, and finishing materials are used to create two distinct atmospheres. Through this distinctive design, the gallery aims to let visitors experience its "front" and "back" seamlessly, proposing a new kind of viewing experience in which glances and presences intermingle through every gap in the space.
Instagram: @butaiura_artsticker
