WAITINGROOM

WORKS

EXHIBITIONS

NEWS

Press

Saya Okubo and Fumika Tsuchitori were featured in "How to Appreciate Abstract Art That Enriches Your Life" in the June 2025 issue of Art Collectors’
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Solo Exhibition "project N 99: Okubo Saya"

7/11 - 10/2, 2025

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery
Exhibition

Group Exhibition "To Sway and Surround : Japanese Female Abstraction"

2/28 - 4/2, 2025

Each Modern (Taipei)
Art Fair 　Saya OKUBO

Art Fair "MEET YOUR ART"

10/11 - 10/14, 2024

Warehouse TERADA B&C HALL (Tokyo)
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Solo Exhibition “Replicas that tell a story”

9/21, - 10/20, 2024

Kyoto TSUTAYA BOOKS 6F Gallery (Kyoto)
Exhibition

Group Exhibition "collection #08”

4/7 - 6/2, 2024

rin art association (Gunma)
Art Fair 　Saya OKUBO

We will participate in Art Fair Tokyo as solo booth of Saya Okubo.

3/8 - 10, 2024

Tokyo International Forum（Tokyo）
Info 　Saya OKUBO

Collaboration T-shirts with Saya Okubo and "Dorland House"; a private brand of Mitsukoshi men's clothing, is on sale.
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Solo Exhibition "Leitmotiv"

3/6 - 3/18, 2024

Mitsukoshi Contemporary Gallery (Tokyo)
Exhibition

Group Exhibition “RE:FACTORY_2”

1/12 - 2/3, 2024

WALL_alternative（東京）
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Group Exhibition "TAKEUCHI COLLECTION: The lens within your heart"

9/30, 2023 - 2/25, 2024

WHAT MUSEUM (Tokyo)
Art Fair 　Saya OKUBO

Saya Okubo and Kenta Cobayashi will exhibit at MEET YOUR ART FAIR 2023 "RE:FACTORY".

3/3-5, 2023

Warehouse TETTADA G1&G3 (Tokyo)
Press 　Saya OKUBO

Saya Okubo was featured in "MEET YOUR ART" YouTube channel & online shop.
Press

A Japanese magazine "Art Collectors" March 2023 issue features the works of Saya Okubo and Rikako Kawauchi.
Press 　Saya OKUBO

Saya Okubo's artwork has been selected as the main visual for the music festival "FFKT" to be held in May 2023.
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Solo Exhibition "The mirror crack'd from side to side"

8/19 - 9/11, 2022

Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery (Tokyo)
Press 　Saya OKUBO

An interview with Saya Okubo was featured on the website of Contemporary Art Foundation.
Exhibition 　Saya OKUBO

Solo Exhibition "We are defenseless. / We are aggressive. "

1/19 - 31, 2021

Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Main Store Main Building 6F art contemporary gallery (Tokyo)
Art Fair

Saya Okubo & Rikako Kawauchi will be participating in the 3331 ART FAIR

10/29-31, 2021

3331 Arts Chiyoda (Tokyo)
Press 　Saya OKUBO

A Japanese magazine "Art Collectors" features the article of Saya OKUBO

STATEMENT

Making paintings is the act of exploring how we perceive images and their contradictions and discrepancies within the shallow space of a flat surface.
The actions and poses of the people I use as motifs bring with them the sociality and narratives behind them.
One cannot act without being subject to the influence of others, or in the absence of relationships.
A single action lies at the end of a series of acts that lead from the past to the present.
Just as a single line in a drawing reveals something about the artist’s physicality and habits of thought, a painting cannot really escape narrative.
The process of making a painting begins with lines, drawn using pen and pencil on paper.
The lines of these drawings connect me and the motif through an act initiated by my body.
Detached from precision by the quick drawing process, these outlines are abstracted and broken down, preventing the motif from being properly recognized and pulling it out of the context (narrative) that is connected to its background.
This stripped motif then enters into individual associations with new outlines, while the textures and colors of the freely scattered paint approach and then distance themselves from the viewer’s sensations and memories of the landscape.
While the work attempts to form an image, it is disintegrating at the same time.
The relationship between the motifs and myself, which often contains contradictions and discrepancies, is connected to the mistakes and inability to understand each other that are bound to occur in our human relationships, and to our acceptance of them.

CV

EDUCATION

2017

Kyoto University of Art and Design (currently Kyoto University of the Arts), Master’s degree, Oil Painting

2015

Kyoto University of Art and Design (currently Kyoto University of the Arts), Bachelor’s degree, Oil Painting

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

project N 99 Okubo Saya, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2024

Replicas that tell a story, Kyoto TSUTAYA BOOKS 6F Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Leitmotiv, Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Honten, MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan

2022

Box of moonlight, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
The mirror crack’d from side to side, Roppongi Hills A/D Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
We are defenseless. / We are aggressive., Nihombashi Mitsukoshi Honten, MITSUKOSHI CONTEMPORARY GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan

2020

They, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2018

a doubtful reply, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

To Sway and Surround : Japanese Female Abstraction, Each Modern, Taipei, Taiwan

2024

collection #08, rin art association, Gunma, Japan
SPRING SHOW, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
RE: FACTORY_2, WALL_alternative, Tokyo, Japan

2023

“The lens within your heart” from the TAKEUCHI COLLECTION, WHAT MUSEUM 2F, Tokyo, Japan
SPRING SHOW, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2022

SPRING SHOW, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2021

Viewing Room Exhibition, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2020

10TH, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
Viewing Room Exhibition, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2019

Island with ONI, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan

2017

NEWSPACE, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
The 4th CAF Award - Winning Award Exhibition, Daikanyama Hillside Forum, Tokyo, Japan
Art Students Exhibition 2017, SEZON ART GALLERY, Tokyo, Japan
Kyoto University of Art and Design Master’s Degree Show, Kyoto University of Art and Design Galerie Aube, Kyoto, Japan

2016

movement 2016 {1st movement}, ARTZONE, Kyoto, Japan
SPERT2016, Galerie Aube, Kyoto, Japan

2015

HERE I AM KUAD×TUNA Exchange Exhibition, Na pai Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
HOP2015, Galerie Aube, Kyoto, Japan
Kyoto University of Art and Design Bachelor’s Degree Show, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto, Japan

ART FAIRS

2024

Art Fair Tokyo 2024, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan [Solo]
MEET YOUR ARTISTS, Warehouse TERADA B&C HALL, Tokyo, Japan [Group]

2021

Art Collaboration Kyoto, Kyoto International Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan [Group]
ART FAIR TOKYO 2021, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan [Group]

2019

ART FAIR TOKYO 2019, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan [Group]

AWARDS

2017 The 4th CAF Award, Masami Shiraishi Award

ARTICLES

“How to Appreciate Abstract Art That Enriches Your Life”, Art Collectors, No. 195, Jun. 2025, p. 13, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Painter in 2021 Experiments in Color and Shape”, Art Collectors, No.187, Oct. 2024, p.60, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
[Interview] “Artist Interview vol. 7 Saya Okubo”, HOLBEIN, July. 31, 2024, https://www.holbein.co.jp/blog/topics/a90
“43 editorial recommendations for writers who stand out for their charm of dots, lines, and surfaces”, Art Collectors, No.168, Mar. 2023, p.49, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
[Interview] “Artists #26 Saya Okubo”, Contemporary Art Foundation, Feb. 21, 2022, https://gendai-art.org/news_single/artists_sayaokubo/
“Exhibition Guide for this month 2021.12.25-2022.1.24”, Art Collectors, No.154, Jan. 2022, p.111, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Sam Gaskin “Ocula conversation | Art Collaboration Kyoto Transports the Art World to Japan”, Ocula Magazine, Nov. 2, 2021, https://ocula.com/magazine/conversations/art-collaboration-kyoto-brings-art-world-to-japan/
“Music & Art”, Art Collectors, No.147, Jun. 2021, p.39, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Now I get it! The World of Abstract Painting”, Art Collectors, No.144, Mar. 2021, p.51, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“In 2020, I bought this!” HIRO’s collection” p.10, “All data of sold-out artists 2021” p.36, Art Collectors, No.143, Feb. 2021, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
“Let me see your Collection Vol.76 — Satoshi Arita”, Art Collectors, No.142, Jan. 2021, pp.92-93, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Shigeyuki Maruhashi, "Contemporary art opens a new ancient city", Sankei Newspaper, Dec. 26, 2020, p.11
“kiki's ART TRIPPER”, NYLON JAPAN, Nov. 2019, Caelum
"The beginning of the art collector", AERA STYLE MAGAZINE, vol. 42, 2019 SPRING issue, p.148, Asahi Shinbun Publications
“All data of sold-out artists 2019", Art Collectors, No.120, Mar. 2019, p.52, Seikatsu no Tomo Sha
Toru Kawagishi “Interest for art of global executives”, GOETHE, No.154, Jan. 2019, pp.80-81, Gentosha
Ichiro Fukano [moderator], Fumika Tsukada [text], “Artists of same generation are rivals. What is the party viewpoint of "outgoing" art collector, Junya Komatsu”, Muuseo Square, Nov. 10, 2018,https://muuseo.com/square/articles/942

ARTIST WEBSITE

VIEW PAGE