August 28, 2019
The volume of Tokyo’s art galleries is huge. Which one to choose? Here is our choice of the best 10 galleries in Tokyo for a spot of inspiration.
Okumo Building
The Oluno Building was first a luxury building apartment for the bourgeoisie citizen in 1930 and then survived American firebombs during the war. Today the building is a relic but it holds inside 20 to 50 galleries all sharing the same roof but having each one of them their own characteristics. There, oil paintings mix with antiques and with ultra-contemporary conceptual work in the next, creating a visitor experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
Okumo Building
Adress: 1-9-8 Ginza, Chuo, Tokyo
Hours: Variable
Taka Ishii Gallery
Having moved from Kiyosumi to Sendagaya in May 2015, Taka Ishii gallery features photography shows and painting by major international and Japanese artists.
Adress : 6-5-24 3F Roppongi Minato-ku Tokyo #106-0032
Hours: Gallery hours: 11am– 7pm
Closed on Sun, Mon and National Holidays
Free entry
Website HERE
Hermès Ginza
Hermès Ginza was designed by Renzo Piano. The building is the flagship store and corporate headquarters of Hermes but has an Artspace (The Studio) located on the eight floor of the building where some art exhibition and other events take place regularly.
Adress: 5-4-19 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Hours: Close at 8 pm
Website : Maisonhermes.jp
Irregular Rhythm Asylum
The Irregular Rhythms Asylum is very much impregnated of the Shinjuku culture of the 1969 and 70s self-defines as an ‘Infoshop’ a resource for Tokyo’s activist and political radicals to use the place as they wish. The store sells books, zines, pamphlets, music, handmade clothes and organize regular art shows from nonmainstream politically conscious artists sharing the same ideas. If ordinary galleries can sometimes seem aloof and preening, Irregular Rhythm Asylum is the opposite, a place where the false separation of art, politics, and life is laid bare.
Adress: 1-30-12 Shinjuku Tokyo.
Hours: 1 pm to 8 pm. Closed Mon and Wed.
Website HERE
Espace Louis Vuitton
L’Espace Louis Vuitton is in the center of Omotesando, the most beautiful area in Tokyo. This art space opened in 2011 hold regularly solo international exhibitions.
Adress: 〒150-0001 Tokyo, 渋谷区Jingumae, 5−7-5 ルイ・ヴィトン表参道ビル
Hours: Close at 7 pm
Website HERE
IMA Gallery
A gallery specialized for art photo operated by IMA project. They provide exhibitions by young Japanese photographers from home and abroad and are holding talk shows inviting artists and creators, with affiliated writers.
Adress: Yubinbango140-0002
Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo Higashi 2-2-43 T33 Building 1F
Hours : Hours: 11 am to 7pm
Closed: Sundays and public holidays,
Website HERE
WISH LESS
A small gallery but worth a visit. Run by a British illustrator Rob Kidney and a Japanese designer Yoko Nagai, the gallery offers a mixed of art, gigs, fashion and anything else it feels like.
Adress: 5-12-10 Tabata, Kita, Tokyo
Thursday + Friday 4pm – 9pm
Saturday + Sunday 12am – 7pm
Closed Monday – Wednesday
Website HERE
Otta Fine Art
The gallery Ota Fine Arts is born in 1994 in the Ebisu area of Tokyo. For 24 years the gallery has defined itself as being a pioneer of the Japanese Contemporary Art.
Adress: Piramide Bldg. 3F, 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo,
Hours: Tue. – Sat. 11 Am – 7pm
Closed on Mon, Sun and National Holidays
Website HERE
Take Ninagawa
Atsuko Ninagawa, the founder, formerly worked as a curator in New York but returned to Tokyo in order to contribute to the thriving but all too often overlooked Japanese contemporary art scene. Ninagawa Gallery likes to commit herself to experimental, and avant-garde art presenting different exhibitions in mediums and styles, striving to challenge and critic art at even turn.
Adress: 2-12-4 Higashi Azabu, Minato Tokyo.
Hours 11 am to 7 pm. Closed Mon and Sun.
Website HERE
Mizuma Art Gallery
Open in Tokyo in 1994, the Mizuma Art gallery make a point of featuring artists, mainly from Japan and it’s surrounding region who are distinguished by an intensely personal style and whose works possess distinctive sensibilities unaffected by fleeting stylistic trends. The gallery participates actively in international art fairs including Art Basel Hong Kong and the Armory Show and continues to support and promote a large number of internationally active artists.
Adress: 162-0843 Tokyo, Shinjuku, Ichigayatamachi, 3 Chome−13 神楽ビル 2F
Hours: Close at 7 pm
Website HERE
