YUGEN Gallery FUKUOKA in Fukuoka City's Daimyo district is hosting a special solo exhibition, "Yuki Nishimoto Now" -2026-, from June 13 (Saturday) to July 15 (Wednesday), 2026. The exhibition brings together approximately 20 works by ink wash artist Yuki Nishimoto, and admission is free.
The Legacy of Ink Wash Artist Yuki Nishimoto
In 2019, a large-scale ink painting of the Pokémon Rayquaza appeared inside Shibuya Station and on the façade of SHIBUYA109. In 2023, Nishimoto's work was selected for the globally popular card game Magic: The Gathering, and in 2025, the "Yuki Nishimoto Museum" opened within the precincts of Toyokawa Inari (Enkūzan Myōgon-ji) — one of Japan's three great Inari shrines — bearing the artist's name.
Yuki Nishimoto bridges contemporary art with domestic and international entertainment, pop culture, and traditional culture through the medium of ink wash painting, continually expanding its expressive possibilities. This exhibition introduces his world through roughly 20 works, including dragons and animals — his signature motifs — alongside artwork created for the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival.
Because ink wash painting involves a single, unrepeatable interaction of brush, ink, and paper, each work is inherently irreproducible. The exhibition presents high-definition giclée reproductions that faithfully capture every brushstroke, ink gradation, and splatter from a carefully curated archive of originals, along with video footage of Nishimoto at work screened inside the gallery — offering visitors an immersive experience of works that are otherwise rare and difficult to encounter.
Artwork for the Hakata Gion Yamakasa
Among Nishimoto's most notable commissions is the artwork he has created for the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival's Kazari Yamakasa (decorative floats). The Hakata Gion Yamakasa is a Shinto offering ritual at Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka City with a history spanning over 770 years, and is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan. In 2016, it was also added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
During the festival, 13 Kazari Yamakasa are displayed at locations throughout Fukuoka City. Nishimoto has served as the lead visual artist for the "Kazari Yamakasa Solaria" — a float exhibited at Solaria Plaza, a commercial facility in the Tenjin area — since 2016. His 2021 work, Mōshō Saizō Yamaiwo Moshirizokeru (Mighty General Saizō Drives Away Illness), drew on the image of Kani Saizō — a figure cherished in Fukuoka as a symbol of protection against pestilence — to express a prayer for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than simply depicting historical subjects, Nishimoto tunes in to what has been passed down through the festival over centuries, to the energy alive in the land and its people, and connects those traditions to the stories of people living today. The exhibition also features products such as hand towels (tenugui) incorporating the festival artwork, offering a retrospective look at his Hakata Gion Yamakasa commissions.
Ink Wash Painting in the Present
The exhibition shines a light on the relationship between materials and the body, and between living traditional culture and art as expressed through ink wash painting. It is also an inquiry into what can emerge from a human body in the digital age.
For those who have never seen Nishimoto's work before, this is an opportunity to encounter a form of ink wash expression unlike any they have seen before. For those already familiar with his art, it is a place to discover the past, present, and future of Nishimoto's creative world.
Tracing Yuki Nishimoto's trajectory is a way of locating where ink wash painting stands today — beyond surface impressions of Japanese aesthetics and beyond the sheer dynamism of technique. The exhibition presents the very essence of ink wash painting and the signs of new expression emerging within it.
Exhibition Details
- Title: Special Exhibition "Yuki Nishimoto Now" -2026-
- Dates: June 13, 2026 (Saturday) to July 15, 2026 (Wednesday)
- Artist Attendance: To be announced
- Opening Hours: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM (closing at 5:00 PM on the final day only)
- Closed: Tuesdays
- Venue: YUGEN Gallery FUKUOKA
- Address: Stage 1 Nishidori 4F, 2-1-4 Daimyo, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture
- Admission: Free
The artist's attendance schedule will be updated as details are confirmed. For the latest information, follow the gallery's official Instagram.
For more details, visit the gallery's official website: https://yugen-gallery.com/blogs/exhibitions/nishimotoyukinoima-fukuoka
Selected Artworks
Uma a (2022)
Suku no Sumi "Oni no Men" (2022)
About the Artist: Yuki Nishimoto
Born in 1988 in Kagoshima Prefecture. Affiliated with Jeaniette LLC. In 2012, his work received the World Best Award at "Embracing Our Differences," held in Florida, USA, drawing entries from 5,300 works across 63 countries. His overseas live painting performances include Hong Kong's "OMEGA presents Ambassador Ball 2014 'Sustaining Time'" (2014), China's "Lotus Peony Festival Opening Ceremony" (2016 — invited by the Shanghai government as the first Japanese artist to participate), and Art Basel Hong Kong (2023). In 2018, he created a mural for the domestic terminal building at Fukuoka Airport.
In 2019, he won two awards at the advertising competition "2019 Clio Entertainment." In 2021, he created the cover artwork for the Ministry of Defense's Defense of Japan white paper and the ink wash background artwork for Sayuri Ishikawa's performance of "Tsugaru Strait: Winter Scene" on the 72nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. In 2023, he appeared on NHK BS Premium's Bi no Tsubo, participated in the World Aquatics Championships welcome board project, provided artwork for Genshin Impact, and took part in the opening ceremony live painting for the National Sports Festival in Kagoshima. In 2025, his work was featured in all three nationally distributed middle school art textbooks. That same year, the "Yuki Nishimoto Museum" opened within the Toyokawa Inari treasury building. From 2025 to 2030, he is creating New Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga — ink wash paintings across 40 large fusuma sliding doors at Toyokawa Inari (Toyokawa-kaku Myōgon-ji).
Beyond Japan, Nishimoto continues to pursue a boundary-crossing style through solo exhibitions and live performances in Europe, the United States, and China, as well as CG, video, and collaborative projects across a wide range of fields.
Instagram: @yu_ki.nishimoto
Selected Exhibition History
- 2018: Solo Exhibition "Ryū no Kiseki," Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka; "Yuki Nishimoto Ceramic Ink Painting Exhibition," Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO, Tokyo
- 2020: Ceramic Ink Painting Solo Exhibition "Destruction and Creation"
- 2021: Ceramic Ink Painting Solo Exhibition "Earth — The Moment of Creation," Philosopher's Walk, Kyoto
- 2022: Solo Exhibition "Sumi no Matsuri: Dynamic Ink Paintings," Kōchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kōchi; Solo Exhibition "Hisumi," YUGEN Gallery, Tokyo
- 2023: Solo Exhibition "Hakata Daimaru 70th Anniversary: Shigen Sōryū," Hakata Daimaru, Fukuoka
- 2024: Group Exhibition "YUGEN Gallery FUKUOKA Art Fair Linked Exhibition," YUGEN Gallery FUKUOKA, Fukuoka; Solo Exhibition "Ungai Sōryū," ART SITE 25, Fukui
- 2025: Solo Exhibition "Pure Curves: The Beauty of Life Spun in Ink," YUGEN Gallery FUKUOKA, Fukuoka; ART FAIR TOKYO 2025 (exhibited with YUGEN Gallery), Tokyo; Ceramic Ink Painting Exhibition "Kōen no Yakudō," Fukuya Hatchobori Main Store, Hiroshima; Opening Exhibition "Yuki Nishimoto Exhibition," Yuki Nishimoto Museum, Aichi
- 2026: Ceramic Ink Painting Exhibition "Ryūtei Shōun," Daimaru Fukuoka Tenjin Store, Fukuoka
Works by Yuki Nishimoto are available to view and purchase at the YUGEN Gallery official online store: https://yugen-gallery.com/collections/yuki-nishimoto
