A new fair to support the Tokyo market

Tokyo Gendai, a new art market rendez-vous!

The first international art fair in Tokyo Bay for over 30 years!

From 7 to 9 July 2023, the Pacifico Yokohama will host 74 leading galleries from Japan, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. Among the participants at this first edition, a number of prestigious international galleries including Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai), Blum & Poe (Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo) and Ceysson & Bénétière (New York, Koerich, Paris, Lyon , Geneva, Saint-Étienne, Pouzilhac).

Tokyo Gendai will host a main section plus three other sections: HANA (tr. flower) dedicated to artists in their early to mid-career, EDA (tr. branch) for established artists in Asia and certain thematic exhibitions, and TANE (tr. seed) for digital art. The program also includes performances, installations and satellite exhibitions at renowned local institutions including the Mori Art Museum and The National Art Center in Tokyo. Artist Ryuichi OHIRA will be presenting a large-scale installation, created exclusively for Tokyo Gendai. The fair also offers a special exhibition entitled Life Actually: The Work of Contemporary Japanese Women Artists, bringing together works by major Japanese women artists including Leiko IKEMURA, Kunié SUGIURA and Yurie NAGASHIMA. The NE (tr. root) section will showcase the work, initiatives and/or collections of several prominent Japanese foundations including the Fukutake Foundation, the Odawara Art Foundation and the Taguchi Art Collection. An extensive talks program has also been scheduled in order to foster exchanges on contemporary culture in Japan and beyond, addressing key trends, issues and developments in today’s art world.

The creator of this event is none other than The Art Assembly, which already organizes several major international art fairs in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taipei Dangdai, the India Art Fair and the new ART SG.

The press release accompanying this latest addition to The Art Assembly’s art fair portfolio makes much of Tokyo Gendai’s “bonded status” since Tokyo Gendai is the very first international art fair in Japan to be granted “bonded status” for the duration of the event. This means that, following a customs regulation introduced in 2020 and 2021, a free zone authorization will exempt foreign galleries from the 10% customs and pre-sale tax which they would otherwise have to pay on each artwork before any potential sale. This offers an unprecedented tax advantage, significantly improving accessibility to the Japanese art market for international gallery owners. According to Magnus Renfrew, co-founder of Tokyo Gendai: “This announcement will help Tokyo Gendai over the next few years to open its doors to international exhibitors and demonstrates Japan’s commitment to deepening its engagement with the global art world and further developing its local art market”. The fair’s director, Eri Takane added: “When we started working on creating this fair, we had not anticipated another element in favor of foreign galleries: the yen’s current historic weakness”.

A veritable platform promoting commercial, artistic and intellectual exchanges, Tokyo Gendai aims to become the cultural rendezvous in the Japanese artistic calendar. It has been more than 30 years since Japan hosted an international art fair, so expectations for this new event are high. The dynamism and wealth of Tokyo’s art scene should attract a large number of international visitors, thereby strengthening its position in the international art world.

Tokyo, a booming marketplace

In 2000, Japan was virtually absent from the global art market. However, in just 20 years, the Japanese capital has established itself as one of the major players in the Asian market and has found itself propelled onto the international scene, notably thanks to the activity of ‘first generation’ galleries like Taka Ishii, Mizuma Gallery and Tomio Koyama, but also thanks to Takashi MURAKAMI who ignited the Tokyo art scene with his KaiKai Kiki gallery. In addition to these Japanese galleries, Tokyo has attracted leading international players (including Blum & Poe and Perrotin), but it still lacked the effervescence that a major art fair can contribute to the development of a thriving domestic and international market. The launch of Tokyo Gendai this year reflects a clear desire to eliminate that handicap.

Japan’s art market vitality has also been reflected in the auction sphere: after reaching a new turnover peak in post-covid 2021, it posted a new record of $183 million in 2022, and the results for H1 2023 have also been buoyant.

Of the TOP 50 best Fine Art auction results in Tokyo since the year 2000, more than 50% are very recent (i.e. hammered during the last three years). Among the most valued artists, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Yayoi Kusama occupy the top three places with Auguste RENOIR, Kazuo SHIRAGA and Yoshitomo NARA not far behind. Japanese buyers are therefore very receptive to Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Western and Japanese signatures. Although clearly interested in art that sells on the international art market, Japanese collectors also support their domestic market via Modern artists like Tsuguharu FOUJITA and Ryusei KISHIDA and international Contemporaries like Kusama, Nara and Ayako ROKKAKU.

In short, the Japanese capital wants to consolidate its position on the international art market and the launch of this new fair aims to do just that. Although still relatively small in global terms, Japan’s art market has a fast-growing volume of auction transactions, and in a booming market that should not be overlooked. Indeed, considering the country’s wealth and the quality of its artistic scene, it now looks perfectly positioned for prosperous future development.