EXHIBITIONS
Takuya Sugiyama Solo Exhibition “Creatures from a Distant Past”
MH Gallery is pleased to present “Creatures from a Distant Past,” a solo exhibition by Takuya Sugiyama, opening on Friday, April 10, 2026.
In this exhibition, the artist presents new works created using memories of travel and bodily sensations as key points of inspiration.
In recent years, while traveling to various places, Sugiyama has encountered moments that unexpectedly made him stop in his tracks. The sunrise he saw from a sleeper train in Laos, the sea in Okinawa where he spent his birthday, the humid crowds of Taiwan, and the dusty air of Indonesia. Amid landscapes that continuously flowed past him, he sometimes felt as though he alone remained still in that moment.
The artist describes these moments as experiences in which something seemed to flow in from the outside world, while at the same time something from within himself began to dissolve outward. As time passed, these experiences were no longer simply events that happened in distant places; instead, they became memories of the body—imprinted with sensations of temperature and humidity.
In this exhibition, these travel experiences are transformed into works that depict one-time landscapes as if they were living creatures. By tracing landscapes that continue to change form and shape the person he is today, the artist presents works that express his own sensibilities in a direct and personal scale.
Takuya Sugiyama
He was born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1987. After graduating from the Department of Environmental Design at Tama Art University in 2011, he began his artistic career both in Japan and internationally, starting with exhibitions at AGORA Gallery in New York.
Through the act of painting, Sugiyama seeks to capture moments when the “boundary of the self” quietly dissolves and becomes one with the world. His works blend abstraction and figuration, intention and unconscious expression, creating compositions that evoke each viewer’s own sensations and memories. Beyond painting, he expresses the “beauty of existence” across multiple fields, including apparel, music, and spatial design.
- Aug 2017 – Art cooperation for the film Girls’ Encounter (Director: Yuka Eda)
- Apr 2018 – Illustration for the relay essay series Correspondence by Hitonari Tsuji × Yoshikazu Okada (Chunichi Shimbun). Illustrations for Okada’s installments published weekly in the Tokyo Shimbun evening edition for one year
- Jul 2018 – Joint exhibition with SUMIRE, characterized by, Hazure
- Nov 2018 – Artwork design for the film NUNUKO no Seisen ~HARAJUKU STORY~ (Director: Takehiro Shindo)
- Apr 2019 – Solo exhibition Daydream, TERRANOVA House (Yoyogi-Uehara, Tokyo)
- Sep 2019 – Participant and poster designer for the INLANDIMENSIONS International Art Festival 2019 (Poland), the largest interdisciplinary festival in Central Europe
- Oct 2019 – Participant in Experimental Exhibition to Visualize Inspiration from Art, LODGE (Yahoo! JAPAN)
- Sep 2020 – Solo exhibition Phenomenon, HARTi GALLERY TOKYO (Roppongi)
- Jun 2021 – Solo exhibition Uterus, Arakawa Giken Industry Showroom “TIERS” (Omotesando)
- Jun 2021 – FOCUS ART FAIR PARIS 2021
- Aug 2021 – FOCUS ART FAIR LONDON 2021, Saatchi Gallery
- Apr 2022 – Exhibition Journey, Faramarz Lounge & Gallery
- Dec 2022 – Opening of TAKUYA SUGIYAMA Gallery
- Jan 2023 – Exhibition ULTIMATE BEAUTY, Tenri Gallery (New York)
- Mar 2023 – Exhibition Free Note, collaboration with SUMIRE
- Jun 2023 – Exhibition hosted by List Sotheby’s at the luxury residential complex Hiroo Estate
- Jul 2023 – Exhibition at Diners Club Ginza Premium Lounge
- Jul 2023 – Participant in Multitalented Art Exhibition 2023 featuring cultural figures and entertainers
- Jul 2023 – Participant in Keiichi Studio Photo Exhibition ~Everyday Is Like Sunday~
- Aug 2023 – Live painting at Kiyomizu-dera Temple for the National Student Marketing Circle Choice Charity Project supporting victims of the Turkey earthquake
- Oct 2023 – Installation artwork and music production for “BEYOND by Platinum”, hosted by American Express at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
- Jul 2024 – Solo exhibition Reincarnation, YUGEN Gallery
- Sep 2024 – Solo exhibition Construction of Deconstruction, YON Gallery
- Sep 2024 – Solo exhibition Ephemeral Hologram, Azabudai Hills Ogaki Bookstore
- Jul 2025 – Solo exhibition at Artglorieux GALLERY OF TOKYO