September 2026: Group Exhibition "WAVE 2026"
LURF GALLERY is pleased to present the art exhibition "WAVE 2026."
Launched in 2018, WAVE is a large-scale exhibition conceived and curated by Kintaro Takahashi and Hiro Sugiyama, bringing together a diverse range of expressions across the boundaries of art, graphic art, illustration, and other creative fields. From 2021 to 2023, the exhibition also traveled internationally to Los Angeles, São Paulo, and London, attracting a total of more than 220,000 visitors. Through these exhibitions, WAVE has continued to introduce the current state and distinctive creativity of Japan's art scene to audiences both at home and abroad.
Now in its eighth edition in Japan, WAVE 2026 will be presented in two parts: "BLUE" in the first half and "YELLOW" in the second, each featuring a different selection of artists and works. A total of 108 artists will participate, ranging from internationally and domestically acclaimed figures to emerging talents.
We hope that this exhibition will offer visitors opportunities to encounter new perspectives and values, to experience the new waves that arise from these encounters, and to imagine the possibilities for art that extend beyond them.
EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
Art Exhibition “WAVE 2026”
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DATES
Part1 WAVE BLUE September 19, 2026(Sat.)― October 12(Mon, Holidays)
Part2 WAVE YELLOW October 17, 2026(Sat.)― November 1(Sun.)
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VENUE
LURF GALLERY 1F & 2F
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HOURS
11:00 – 19:00
*Note: Only WAVE BLUE (First Half) will be open until 5:00 PM on the final day.
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ADDRESS
Roob1, 28-13 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0033, Japan
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FEES
BLUE/YELLOW Combined Ticket
General Admission: ¥1,000 / Students: ¥500YELLOW only
General Admission: 500 yen / Students: 500 yen*You may enter as many times as you like during the exhibition period by presenting your ticket.
*Admission is free for high school students and younger.
*Admission to the 1st-floor exhibition is free.–
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CONTENTS
Exhibition and sale of artworks (some pieces are not for sale)
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PLANNING &
Kintaro Takahashi / Hiro Sugiyama
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CURATION
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ORGANIZER ＆ OPERATOR
WAVE Executive Committee + ENLIGHTENMENT + LURF GALLERY
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SPONSORED by
Kazepro Co., Ltd. / Sarutahiko Coffee Co., Ltd.
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SUPPORT
Vision Track
ARTISTS
Part1 WAVE BLUE (89 Artists)
September 19, 2026 (Sat) – October 12, 2026 (Mon, holiday)
Sekaiichi Asakura / Tadanobu Asano / Izuru Aminaka / Ryoji Arai / Kohei Arano / Jun Iida / Masaru Ishiura (TGB design.) / Miyuki Ichijo / Hikaru Ichijo / Yoshimi Ide / Emi Imazeki / Takumi Ueda / Fuco Ueda / Nao Utsunomiya / Taro Uryu / Micca Okada / Mayu Kakuda / Yuto Katayose / Takaaki Kato / Kaniko / Kazuo Kawakami / Yoko Kawamoto / Taketo Kikuchi / Heisuke Kitazawa / Yuuki Kitazawa / Kimi Kuruhara / Kiyoshi Kuroda / KEI MEGURO / Kyoko Waits Kogiso / Yusuke Saito / Norishige Sasabe / Katsuhiko Brian Sato / Masaru Shichinohe / Ai Shinomiya / JUN KANEKO / Yutanpo Shirane / Kotobuki Shiriagari / Shinkichi Hiroshima / Makiko Sugawa / Ayumi Sugiyama / Suzy Amakane / SEIICHI / Nana Soeda / Soul Sotoyama / Maho Takahashi / Chika Takei / Sugoroku Takeya / Nao Tatsumi / Hiroshi Tanabe / Ichiro Tanida / Ryo Teshima / Katsuya Terada / Terry Johnson / Sachiko Temmyo / Akina Tokiyoshi / Tororoen / Yuta Nakajima / Goro Nagashima / Tsuyoshi Nagano / Sachiko Nakamura / Momoko Nakamura / Keiko Nasu / Takashi Nemoto / HAMADARAKA / Motohiro Hayakawa / Yutaka Hirai / Hiro Sugiyama / Sou Hirose / Hiroyuki Higuchi / face / Toshiyuki Fukuda / Nobuto Fukutsu / Makoto Honda / Maasa / Baku Maeda / Yu Maeda / Matthew Mallow / Kenichiro Mizuno / Mic Itaya (Mic*Itaya) / Yukari Miyagi / MIRANDA YOKOTA / Hideyasu Moto / Yuji Moriguchi / Keiji Yano / Mayu Yukishita / Yumura Tara / Megumi Yoshizane / YOTS / Rockin’Jelly Bean
Part2 WAVE YELLOW (19 Artists)
October 17, 2026 (Sat) – November 1, 2026 (Sun)
Keiji Ito / Masanori Ushiki / Tadashi Umemoto / Mariko Enomoto / Kazuki Okamura / Kumi Takahashi / Moe Shimada / JUN OSON / Mika Suga / Hajime Sorayama / Kintaro Takahashi / ZHANG TING / Mayumi Tsuzuki / Kotao Tomozawa / Yu Nagaba / Ai Nariyama / Yuki Nishijima / Maya Nukimizu / Haroshi
EVENTS | TALK SESSION 01
We will be hosting a talk session featuring Yusuke Saito and Megumi Yoshizane. The moderator will be Kintaro Takahashi, the director of WAVE.
WAVE Talk Session 01
"The Current State of Media Art"
- Date and Time Saturday, September 26, 2026, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Venue LURF GALLERY 2F
- Speakers Yusuke Saito, Megumi Yoshizane
- Interviewer Kintaro Takahashi
*Everyone is welcome to attend.
*A ticket to WAVE 2026 is required for admission.
If you already have a ticket, please present it at reception.
Yusuke Saito
Born in 1978. After graduating from the Vantan Design Institute in 2003, he has been working as an illustrator.
He has worked across various media, including covers for Music Magazine (the April 2008 issue–the March 2014 issue), CD covers for Nulbarich, ELLEGARDEN, Kroi etc., movie promotional art, collaborations with apparel brands. In recent years, he has held numerous solo exhibitions as an artist. His publications include the art book YOUTHQUAKE, the comic book Chuck and the Girl and others.
https://www.instagram.com/saitoh_yusuke/
Megumi Yoshizane
Born in Chiba in 1970. Graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University in 1992.
After working as a designer at an advertising agency, she became an illustrator.
Her major works include posters for Hirokazu Koreeda's films, Still Walking, After the Storm and Ishibumi, Kururi's Songline CD cover, the poster for the Doraemon movie Nobita's Chronicle of the Moon Exploration, the TV commercial for GREEN KEWPIE, the interior design for Peche Mignon ARTISAN DE SAVEUR in the Shin-Maru Building, etc. She continues to exhibit her works in solo and group exhibitions.
https://www.instagram.com/megumi_yoshizane/
Kintaro Takahashi
Illustrator, Art Director
Graduated from Tama Art University and has been working as a freelancer ever since. He works across a wide range of fields, from advertising and fashion illustrations to animation and character design for children's programs such as P-kies. In addition to his work as an illustrator, he was involved in the art direction of various culture and fashion magazines in the '80s and '90s, including Takarajima. Recently, he has curated large-scale exhibitions such as Parco Museum and the WAVE Exhibition (Tokyo, Los Angeles, São Paulo, London).
https://www.instagram.com/kintaro_takahashi/
EVENTS | TALK SESSION 02
We will be hosting a talk session featuring Yutanpo Shirane, Hideyasu Moto and Hiro Sugiyama, the director of WAVE.
WAVE Talk Session 02
"Is There a Boundary?"
- Date and Time Saturday, October 3, 2026, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Venue LURF GALLERY 2F
- Speakers Yutanpo Shirane, Hideyasu Moto, Hiro Sugiyama
*Everyone is welcome to attend.
*A ticket to WAVE 2026 is required for admission.
If you already have a ticket, please present it at reception.
Based in Tokyo, he works as a freelance illustrator on a wide range of projects, with a style characterized by simple lines.
In addition to client work, he holds several solo exhibitions each year and participates in various curated exhibitions as an artist.
https://www.instagram.com/yuroom/
Painter / Manga Artist / Illustrator / Music Label Director
https://www.instagram.com/hideyasu_moto/
He worked primarily with analog painting throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and began creating digital works following the formation of the artist unit ENLIGHTMENT in 1997. In his 2000 solo exhibition 2-Delight, he presented works described as "digital paintings," which attracted international attention.
In 2001, he participated in the Superflat exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), which was organized and curated by Takashi Murakami.
He presented large-scale portrait works of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna and Karen Carpenter at this exhibition.
Since then, he has participated in numerous exhibitions at museums in London, the Bronx, Shanghai and other cities. In the 2010s, he once again began actively focusing on the production of analog paintings. In 2021, he introduced his Black Paint series, in which he eliminates color from famous paintings and depicts their motifs as silhouettes. The series gained attention, and he held solo exhibitions at LURF GALLERY in 2022 and 2024.
https://www.instagram.com/hiro_sugiyama_enlightenment/
EVENTS | TALK SESSION 03
We will be hosting a talk session featuring Maya Nukumizu, ZHANG TING and Mayumi Tsuzuki, who are participating in the latter half of the exhibition, “YELLOW,” with art producer and writer Chie Sumiyoshi as the moderator.
WAVE Talk Session 03
"Beyond the Canvas"
- Date and Time October 24, 2026(Sta.), 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Venue LURF GALLERY 2F
- Speakers Maya Nukumizu, ZHANG TING, Mayumi Tsuzuki
- Moderator Chie Sumiyoshi (Art Producer / Writer)
*Everyone is welcome to attend.
*A ticket to WAVE 2026 is required for admission.
If you already have a ticket, please present it at reception.
Born in 1995 in Shanxi Province, China. In March 2023, she completed her graduate studies in Illustration at Kyoto University of the Arts.
Based in Tokyo, she currently creates paintings and illustrations exploring the relationship between the body, mind, and memory.
Her major awards and publications include being selected as a finalist for the 2023 CAF Award, being featured in the May 2023 issue of Bijutsu no Mado in its “Newcomers Directory” feature, and receiving Gold Prize in the Student Division of the 2022 Tokyo Book Jacket Illustration Award.
She primarily presents her works through solo and group exhibitions in Japan.
https://www.instagram.com/cyou.tei/
Artist / Painter
Born in Kyoto, Japan. She completed her MA Artistic Expression Major at Kyoto University of Arts.
Keiichi Tanaami was her master from her university years, and in 2012, she moved her base to Tokyo.
While presenting works domestically and internationally, she has worked across a wide range of fields, including CD jacket artwork for Macaroni Empitsu and Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku. Her recent major exhibitions include her solo exhibition STRANGE STRANGERS (OIL by Bijutsutecho Gallery/ Tokyo/ 2025), AATM2026 Satellite Exhibition (Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum Espace 1894/ Tokyo/ 2026), Radiant and Revealed (GoyoGallery/ Tokyo/ 2026), her solo exhibition EYES ON YOU (Gallery EN wall at Tsutaya Kyoto Okazaki/ Kyoto/ 2026).
https://www.instagram.com/maya_nukumizu/
Born in 1966 in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from the Department of Industrial, Interior and Craft Design (Interior Design Course) at Musashino Art University.
She creates oil paintings and Risograph prints, primarily presenting her work through solo exhibitions and art fairs, while also undertaking client work, mainly book cover illustration. She captures her memories of growing up in the suburbs of Tokyo during Japan's period of rapid economic growth and the light and shadow of American culture that had a great influence on her at the time, as an intangible idealized vision viewed from Japan, "American Nostalgia." She depicts it through the coexistence of visual comfort and an uncertain sense of texture.
https://www.instagram.com/tsuzuki_mayumi/
Art Producer / Writer
Director of culture review site Real Tokyo.
Born in Tokyo. Graduated from Keio University Faculty of Literature, aesthetics and art history major.
Since 1995, she has worked as a journalist specializing in a wide range of fields within arts.
From 2003 to 2015, she directed TRAUMARIS, an art space and bar.
She currently organizes exhibitions and performing arts events in various venues.
http://www.realtokyo.co.jp
https://www.instagram.com/btraumaris/
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