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Hiroshi Soga transforms traditional butsudan altar panels into poetic paintings where grids, fragments, and flowers echo cycles of life and impermanence. Guided by the ideas of “Lascaux” and kihai, this article explores how his work invites us to sense an unseen presence.

Nestled in the heart of Gujo Hachiman, Gifu’s Castle Town, the Gujo Hachiman Art Walk 2025 invites visitors on a cultural journey through galleries, streets, and everyday spaces. Known worldwide for the Gujo Odori dance festival and its historic mountaintop castle, Gujo Hachiman is also becoming a vibrant hub for creativity. This summer, four art galleries—together with cultural venues, cafés, restaurants, and shops—transform the town into a living exhibition.

During the Heian period, the practice of mounting short poems (waka) on small, square or rectangular sheets of ornamented paper became widespread in aristocratic circles. These sheets—often dyed, brushed with mica, or decorated with gold and silver—were then affixed onto larger surfaces such as folding screens (byōbu) or sliding doors (shōji), creating visually rich, multi-poetic compositions. These arrangements were known as shikishigata—literally, “in the form or style of s

French painter and pastel artist Yves Millet has long been inspired by the delicate balance between abstraction and evocation. His recent series of works on Japanese shikishi boards continues this exploration, offering a unique dialogue between European pastel traditions and East Asian aesthetics.

In the refined setting of the Delta Sky Club Lounge at Boston Logan Airport, French artist Ortaire de Coupigny offers travelers an unexpected visual encounter. Mounted along a lounge wall, his installation of sardine-can sculptures introduces a moment of quiet intrigue within a space defined by movement.

Haruka Miyamoto presents a series of sumi ink drawings on traditional Japanese shikishi boards, featuring the Xerces Blue and Morant’s Blue butterflies. These works continue her exploration of extinct species, a theme she also pursues through sculpture.

If you're attending the Interceltic Festival of Lorient 2025 (August 1–10), don’t miss a unique opportunity to experience an exceptional art exhibition in Brittany by French painter Christian Halna du Fretay. Now open in Lanester, the exhibition Éblouissements fugitifs (Ephemeral Dazzlements) unfolds across Galerie La Rotonde and the Town Hall of Lanester, offering a rich dialogue between mixed-media works on paper and large-scale paintings on canvas.

We’re delighted to share that Olivia Lomenech Gill, an artist we admire greatly at Art San Gallery, has been awarded the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration. The announcement was made yesterday at the Cambridge Theatre in London, where Olivia was recognized for her exceptional illustrations in Clever Crow, written by Chris Butterworth and published by Walker Books.

At Art San Gallery, we are proud to present the work of French painter Sébastien Coueffic, whose refined sense of structure, color, and atmosphere turns the ordinary into something quietly monumental. His paintings capture rooftops, façades, and fragments of urban life—not as documentation, but as carefully constructed harmonies of light and form. Rooted in figurative painting, Coueffic’s approach is shaped by a deep understanding of modernist color theory, structural clarity

Opening July 11, 2025 – Art San Gallery, Gujo Hachiman, Gifu, Japan Art San Gallery is proud to present the first solo exhibition in...

We are proud to share the exciting news that Olivia Lomenech Gill has been shortlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Illustration, one of the UK’s most prestigious awards celebrating excellence in children’s book illustration. Winners will be announced on June 19, 2025, at a ceremony at the Cambridge Theatre, London.

In English, the Japanese word shikishi is sometimes translated as “colored paper.” At first glance, it seems to make sense: the kanji characters 色紙 literally mean “color” (色) and “paper” (紙). But in practice, this translation is both misleading and reductive.

We are pleased to announce the opening of Art San Gallery's physical space in the historic town of Gujo Hachiman, nestled in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Gujo Hachiman is often called the “water town” — a place where narrow streets, wooden houses, and murmuring canals come together to form one of Japan’s most picturesque and peaceful environments. Known for its pristine rivers and deep-rooted traditions, the town embodies a rare harmony between nature and culture.

This life-size work, created by Ortaire de Coupigny using wax and noir de fumée , is the result of a deliberate process blending...

It’s been a year and a half since we launched Art San Gallery — we hinted at a mysterious destination hidden in the name itself.

Explore the tradition of tegata — sumo handprint autographs on shikishi boards — featuring Yokozuna Chiyonofuji Mitsugu.