﹒ArtAsiaPacific
Tokyo Gendai 2025: 6 Galleries to Watch
Shanghai-based BANK Gallery, which recently opened a new outpost in New York City, is bringing recent works by Liang Hao, Michael Lin, Wang Rui, Bony Ramirez, and Lu Yang. Lu’s video centers on DOKU, a digital avatar navigating a technological dystopia, engaging with Buddhist philosophy while exploring fundamental questions of consciousness, identity, and being.
﹒Observer
Tokyo Gendai Confirms Japan’s Rising Market Strength
This edition also marked the first participation of Shanghai’s gallery BANK, which reported being generally pleased with the first day’s reactions and interactions. “Japan is a hard market to penetrate, but we had some presales and steady action on the first day,” the gallery’s founder Mathieu Borysevicz told Observer. It presented experimental works by Lu Yang, a Chinese artist they represent who is based in Tokyo and widely known there, making her presence key in attracting both collectors and a broader audience. As Borysevicz noted, Michael Lin, the Taiwanese artist born in Tokyo and long exhibited in Japan, also helped generate institutional acquisition interest.
﹒Bijutsutecho
Tokyo Gendai 2025 Opening Report: A Spirit of Mutual Support Tested by a Challenging Market
This year, first-time exhibitor BANK introduced the latest video work from the "DOKU" series by Lu Yang, a China-born artist based in Japan, alongside paintings by Michael Lin, who was born in Tokyo and has roots in Taiwan. A gallery representative stated, "We carefully selected works likely to resonate with Japanese audiences," while also noting, "Some visitors hesitate to approach overseas galleries, but when our Japanese-speaking staff greet them, they feel more at ease." In practice, inquiries have primarily focused on artists already well-known in Japan.
﹒The Art Journal
Amid Tokyo’s autumn art season, Tokyo Gendai returns as a shifting ecosystem amplifies the energy of local creativity.
Making its debut at the fair this year, Shanghai-based BANK Gallery has carefully curated a presentation designed to both resonate with local audiences and collectors and introduce fresh artistic voices to the Japanese market. The gallery is showcasing works by Lu Yang, Michael Lin, Liang Hao, Wang Rui, and Bony Ramirez.
Lu Yang, who is active in Tokyo, is showing his widely recognized “DOKU” project, already familiar to many Japanese viewers and attracting collector interest from the fair’s opening day. Also featured is Tokyo-born artist Michael Lin, whose painting practice often draws from traditional textile patterns. His Untitled (2010)—a vibrant, high-saturation acrylic-on-canvas work depicting cherry blossom motifs—is among the highlights of the presentation.
﹒ArtAsiaPacific
Home Ground: Tokyo Gendai 2025 and the New Asian Circuit
BANK were one of the only two galleries from China. Shanghai-based BANK seems to share this outward approach, making their Tokyo Gendai debut while also testing waters in New York with a pilot space that opened earlier this year. For the fair, BANK brought artists familiar to Japanese collectors, including a video work by Japan-resident Lu Yang and paintings by Tokyo-born Taiwanese artist Michael Lin, which are inspired by traditional cherry blossom textile patterns. Both galleries gave East Asian artists visibility in Japan.
