KOTARO NUKAGA to participate in 'FRIEZE SEOUL 2025'
KOTARO NUKAGA is pleased to announce our participation in ‘Frieze Seoul 2025’, an international art fair held in COEX, Seoul, Republic of Korea from September 3 to 6.
At Frieze Seoul 2025, KOTARO NUKAGA will present works by Yu-ichi Inoue （1916–1985）, a pioneering figure of Japanese postwar avant-garde calligraphy movement. Declaring the “liberation of calligraphy,” Yu-ichi was an artist who sought to free the calligraphy from tradition and forms, relentlessly pursuing its rebirth as a living cry. His practice deconstructed traditional brush techniques and forms. This essence is embodied in the ichijisho（single-character works）, in which spirit and body collide at their utmost limits. Yu-ichi questions the very act of writing beyond kanji as symbols and his approach resonates not only within calligraphy but also with paintings and performances. His work has been increasingly reappraised in an international context.
This exhibition will feature around ten large-scale single-character works, a hallmark of Yu-ichiʼs career. In addition, one piece from his landmark series Ah Yokokawa Kokumin-gakkō will be shown. Often referred to as the “Guernica of the East,” this work is a true masterpiece of 20th-century art, expressing the tragedy of war through visceral, bodily inscriptions.
As Yu-ichi himself described, his works were “written through him” a crystallization of calligraphy as an act, transcending both meaning and beauty of the written word. Through this exhibition, we hope viewers will encounter the radiance of body and life that Yu-ichi sought to convey, and rediscover the boundless possibilities of calligraphy.
【EXHIBITION DETAILS】
Frieze Seoul 2025
Venue: COEX（513, Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06164 Republic of Korea）
Period:
VIP Day
September 3, 11:00 – 19:00
Public Days
September 4, 11:00 – 19:00（invitation and preview ticket holders only 11:00 – 15:00）
September 5, 11:00 – 19:00
September 6, 11:00 – 19:00
Artist: Yu-ichi Inoue
Booth No: M06
ARTISTS
