EXhiBition
GALLERIES
UTANHOLE, Plug in Baby, 2025. Oil paint and colored pencil on canvas, 145.5 x 112 cm. © 2026 Utanhole, courtesy the artist and Kaikai Kiki Gallery.
“2021 Kaikai Kiki Gallery Autumn Show,” installation view, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, 2021. Photo by Kozo Takayama. © Otani Workshop/MADSAKI/Mr./ob/Kaikai Kiki Co., © T9G © Chinatsu Ban.
UTANHOLE
Tokyo-based artist Utanhole studied oil painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, graduating in 2025, and has quickly made a name for himself through pastel-hued works that combine a manga aesthetic with surreal imagery. The painting Plug in Baby (2025), for example, depicts a young androgynous figure standing in a community garden with their shirt pulled up to reveal a suicide bomb strapped to their chest. Kaikai Kiki Gallery has been introducing the artist’s work throughout 2026 at major Japanese and international art fairs, including Art SG, Frieze Los Angeles, Art Fair Tokyo, and Art Basel Hong Kong. Now the gallery is mounting its first solo show with Utanhole, which will feature new paintings, including large-scale works, alongside a selection of drawings.
KAIKAI KIKI GALLERY
Takashi Murakami founded Kaikai Kiki Gallery in 2008 as a space for presenting the work of the artists he manages. The gallery seeks to imbue art with new social value and contribute to the development of the Japanese art scene as a whole through its activities. Represented artists include Chiho Aoshima, Emi Kuraya, Madsaki, ob, Otani Workshop, and Aya Takano, while international artists who have shown with the gallery in Tokyo include Kasing Lung and Futura.