Artist Noritaka Tatehana's solo exhibition "Heel-less Shoes" is being held at KOSAKU KANECHIKA in Kyobashi, Tokyo, from Friday, October 30 to Saturday, December 12, 2026. The venue is KOSAKU KANECHIKA Kyobashi | TODA BUILDING.
Tatehana marked the 15th anniversary of his creative career in 2025, and this exhibition returns to Heel-less Shoes, the starting point of his work. The gallery shows about 40 works, centered on 30 pieces of his signature Heel-less Shoes and including new drawings.
Heel-less Shoes grew out of the research into traditional Japanese culture that Tatehana carried out while studying at Tokyo University of the Arts. By reading the cultural background of the high wooden clogs (takageta) worn by oiran in the Edo period and removing the heel from a modern high-heeled shoe, he questioned the relationship between footwear and the body.
Since presenting the work in 2010, Tatehana has made "Rethink," the idea of reconsidering Japanese culture from a contemporary perspective, the foundation of his practice, and has worked in a range of forms including painting and sculpture. The exhibition shows where Heel-less Shoes stands today and presents a new series that depicts Heel-less Shoes as drawings.
The Starting Point of His Work: Heel-less Shoes
Heel-less Shoes, which Tatehana unveiled in 2010, was born from his study of the takageta worn by oiran in the Edo period.
The takageta worn by oiran were more than footwear: they visually signaled social rank and status. Western high heels, too, have a history of developing as symbols of authority and the beauty of the body.
Focusing on these Eastern and Western footwear cultures, Tatehana created a distinctive form by removing the heel from the high-heeled shoe.
The work is not simply a matter of bringing traditional design into the present. By studying the background in which a culture arose and its values, it is an attempt to question existing ideas of the body and of footwear.
Coming after the milestone of 15 years of creative activity, the exhibition brings together Heel-less Shoes made with a variety of materials and techniques, drawing on his accumulated research and production to date.
Heel-less Shoes "Atom" (Dragon Scales), 2026 / Dyed cowhide, pig suede / h.84.8 x w.14.2 x d.21.0 cm each
Heel-less Shoes "Lady Pointe", 2026 / Dyed cowhide, pig suede, coated glass crystal, Japanese braided cord / h.47.7 x w.8.6 x d.11.7 cm each
Heel-less Shoes "Lady Romanesque", 2026 / Dyed cowhide, metal fastener / h.54.3 x w.10.6 x d.21.8 cm each
Installation view of Noritaka Tatehana's solo exhibition "Heel-less Shoes". © NORITAKA TATEHANA K.K. / Courtesy of KOSAKU KANECHIKA / Photo by GION
From Sculpture to Drawing: A New Expression of Heel-less Shoes
The exhibition presents new drawings on the theme of Heel-less Shoes.
Tatehana has long made many drawings in the process of developing the concept and form of his three-dimensional works. In this series, he moves away from the role of preparatory sketches and takes on a new challenge: expressing Heel-less Shoes itself as a flat work.
Drawn with delicate lines and tonal shading in conté crayon, the Heel-less Shoes in these works have a texture and depth different from the sculptures, bringing out the relationship between body and form from a new viewpoint.
By extending his expression from the three-dimensional to the flat, Tatehana explores anew the formal possibilities of his signature work.
Heel-less Shoes (Drawing), 2026 / Conté crayon on paper / 106.3 x 88.0 cm
Frozen Boots (Drawing), 2026 / Conté crayon on paper / 106.3 x 88.0 cm
Installation view of Noritaka Tatehana's solo exhibition "Heel-less Shoes". © NORITAKA TATEHANA K.K. / Courtesy of KOSAKU KANECHIKA / Photo by GION
The Artist's Words
Noritaka Tatehana said the following about the exhibition.
I remove the heel not to simplify the form, but to expose the structure behind it.
Heel-less Shoes is not meant to refer to a culture that existed in the past. It is a device for reconsidering how culture has been inherited and has continued to change.
I believe that culture is not formed by a single lineage, but arises where multiple times and values intersect. Culture does not belong to the past; it continues to be renewed in the present. The culture we are in contact with now may also become part of the traditional culture of the future.
Heel-less Shoes is one cross-section positioned within that continuity, and it holds the possibility of connecting to the culture of the future.
Featured Works
Heel-less Shoes "Atom" (Dragon Scales), 2026
Detail of Heel-less Shoes "Atom" (Dragon Scales), 2026
Dyed cowhide, pig suede / h.84.8 x w.14.2 x d.21.0 cm each
Heel-less Shoes "Atom" is a sculpture based on a long Heel-less Shoe covering the leg up to the thigh, which Tatehana made experimentally in 2012. Its form, which covers the whole leg, goes beyond the function of footwear and pursues a new bodily expression in which the human body and the shoe become one.
The name "Atom" reflects Tatehana's view of the shoe not as a tool independent of the body but as a part of what makes up the human body. The form, in which the boundary between body and artifact blurs, can also be read in the context of post-human fashion.
For this work, he used the "Dragon Scales" technique he has been working on since 2025, making leather pieces reminiscent of dragon scales one by one to cover the surface. Meticulous decoration that applies traditional leather craft techniques gives the shoe, as an extension of the body, an organic texture suggestive of the skin of an imaginary creature.
Void Sculpture "Frozen Boots", 2014
Void Sculpture "Frozen Boots", 2014
Acrylic Block / h.95.0 x w.25.0 x d.20.0 cm each
Void Sculpture "Frozen Boots" is a sculpture in which the shape of a Heel-less Shoe is expressed as a cavity inside a transparent acrylic block.
Sculpture normally creates form by carving or stacking material. Here that relationship is reversed, and the space where no matter exists becomes the main subject of the form. The outline of the shoe is enclosed within the transparent material, and its appearance changes depending on the viewing angle and the way light enters.
The title "Frozen Boots" carries the meaning of freezing a form that exists in space and fixing it in place as if stopping time. Questioning the relationship between substance and void, presence and absence, the work starts from the concrete motif of footwear to explore the possibilities of form and space in sculpture.
Baby Heel-less Shoes "Baby Pointe", 2026
Baby Heel-less Shoes "Baby Pointe", 2026. © NORITAKA TATEHANA K.K. / Courtesy of KOSAKU KANECHIKA / Photo by GION
Dyed cowhide, pig suede, coated glass crystal, Japanese braided cord / h.28.4 x w.8.6 x d.11.0 cm each
Baby Heel-less Shoes "Baby Pointe" is a sculpture that reconstructs Heel-less Shoes "Lady Pointe", also known for being worn by Lady Gaga in the music video for "Marry the Night," as a baby-sized object. By condensing the distinctive silhouette into a small scale, the work moves away from the function of footwear and brings out its appeal as an independent form.
The bright pink surface is covered with glass crystals without gaps and combined with a pure silk braided cord made in collaboration with 龍工房. The fusion of traditional Japanese braiding techniques and decoration in contemporary materials lets the aesthetic sensibilities of different cultures and eras coexist in a single form.
With the endearing proportions that come with its small scale and showy decoration made through precise handwork, the work offers a new perspective on the formal possibilities of Heel-less Shoes.
Exhibition Overview
Installation view of Noritaka Tatehana's solo exhibition "Heel-less Shoes". © NORITAKA TATEHANA K.K. / Courtesy of KOSAKU KANECHIKA / Photo by GION
- Exhibition name: Noritaka Tatehana "Heel-less Shoes"
- Dates: Friday, October 30 to Saturday, December 12, 2026
- Hours: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM (closed on Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays)
- Venue: KOSAKU KANECHIKA, TODA BUILDING 3F, 1-7-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0031
- Phone: 03-3528-6720
- Admission: Free
- Official exhibition page: https://kosakukanechika.com/exhibition/heel_less_shoes/
About the Artist
Noritaka Tatehana was born in Tokyo in 1985 and raised in Kamakura. He graduated in 2010 from the Department of Crafts (textile dyeing and weaving course) at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. Alongside his research into the culture of courtesans (遊女), he has made kimono and geta using yuzen dyeing.
His major solo exhibitions include "NORITAKA TATEHANA: Refashioning Beauty" (Portland Japanese Garden, 2019) and "It's always the others who die" (POLA Museum Annex, Tokyo, 2019), and his group exhibitions include "Future Beauty" (an international tour including the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2012). In March 2016, he held a bunraku performance at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris. His works are in the collections of 国立工芸館 (the National Crafts Museum), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Artist's official site: https://www.noritakatatehana.com
