gallery UG
Tokyo, Japan

gallery UG

For VOLTA Basel, gallery UG is proud to exhibit three Japanese artists Kunihiko NOHARA, Mika HIBA, and Nami OKADA.

gallery UG has been promoting these three artists exclusively since the early stage of their careers. gallery UG has grown as a gallery together with artists by discovering and nurturing individual artists and presents about 30 young artists. Some of them focuse on three-dimensional works.

The gallery’s aim it to further enrich and expand contemporary art by proposing the original state of the art gallery, such as supporting the production of artists, fostering and interacting with young artists, and creating many opportunities for promotion, just like the former Paris Marg Gallery.

Mika CHIBA, Sapporo, 2020, oil, acrylic, 89.4 × 145.5 cm

Kunihiko NOHARA 野原邦彦

In moments when I feel like I’m in a place independent of my surroundings, I sometimes feel like I’m in a different time and space The feeling is like clouds or smoke that change shape with no regard for a time that people have to live by, and it also feels like a space of my own.

To turn, various scenes that came up in my imagination from things I encountered To express freedom and time and desires that are on the verge of being discarded from memory That is what is important, for me to be me and for a person to be themselves.

Nami OKADA岡田菜美

“I can't remember the view of the mountains I climbed as a child. but I do remember the shape of the cookies I ate at that time. There is often a disconnect between what I remember and what is important to me. I try to regain the outline of the forgotten scene from various aspects such as smells, humidity, air, and emotions at the time, but the shapes that emerge are vague, not resembling fantasy or reality.”

Mika CHIBA千葉美香

The twilight sky is romantic and illuminates the momentary ephemeral splashes more dramatically. The skin that has been soaked in water also shines brightly as if it had revived. Water is a very familiar substance, but when we find a mysterious beauty in it and experience healing and emotion, we reaffirm our connection with God.