Chinatsu Ban Solo Exhibition
The Tale at the Heart of Everything
Chinatsu Ban
February 6 (Fri) – February 28 (Sat) 2026
Gallery Hours: 11:00〜19:00
Closed：Sundays, mondays and public holidays
Opening reception：
February 6(Fri) 18:00〜20:00
Chinatsu Ban《If This World Is a Dream》564 x 753 mm, Acrylic on Canvas ©︎2025 Chinatsu Ban
We are pleased to announce Chinatsu Ban’s solo exhibition “The Tale at the Heart of Everything” at Kaikai Kiki Gallery, on view from February 6 (Fri) to February 28 (Sat), 2026.
Since her debut with Kaikai Kiki in 2001, Chinatsu Ban has been active both in Japan and internationally. In 2005, she held a solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and unveiled a large-scale elephant sculpture in Central Park through Public Art Fund the same year. She has since taken on a series of major projects in the United States and elsewhere, including another solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas in 2006.
Around 2012, she temporarily stepped away from her artistic practice to focus on raising her child. The inclusion of one of her earlier works in a group show at Kaikai Kiki Gallery in September 2021 renewed her connection with the gallery, leading to her full return to her art at the end of 2023. The following year, she presented her first new work in 12 years at Taipei Dangdai 2024. Since then, she has continued to present her art energetically at international art fairs such as ART SG 2025, Frieze Los Angeles 2025, and Art Basel Hong Kong 2025. At Art Fair Tokyo 2025, she had a solo booth and performed a live painting on a nearly three-meter-tall elephant sculpture.
“The Tale at the Heart of Everything” marks Ban’s first large-scale solo exhibition at a gallery since her return. Sixteen new paintings will be on view. We warmly invite you to come and see the works in person.
Live painting at Art Fair Tokyo 2025
Message from the Artist
Nature always creates a mirror-opposite counterpart and they both share the same worldview.
This is something I once heard in a film.
I am interested in dualistic things, and am studying and practicing to feel both sides of them.
When a pendulum swings in one direction, a force is inevitably generated in the opposite.
By observing this movement with care, and gradually narrowing its arc, an invisible center begins to emerge.
From two perspectives, a third appears.
That’s what I seek to achieve. I imagine that place as one of absolute peace—bright and warm. I hope it truly is!
The Tale at the Heart of Everything:
In this exhibition, among the many dualities in life, awakening and sleep form the central theme. I create my work from a third point of view.
Chinatsu Ban
Production Scene in the Studio
Chinatsu Ban
Born in Aichi Prefecture, 1973.
Graduated from the Department of Oil Painting, Tama Art University, 1997.
Solo Exhibitions
1998 – “Chinatsu Ban Exhibition” Canolfan (Nagoya)
2003 – “Solo Exhibition” Tomio Koyama Gallery (Tokyo)
2005 – “Doris C. Freedman Plaza Sculpture Installation” Public Art Fund (New York)
“Chinatsu Ban” Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York)
2006 – “Focus: Chinatsu Ban” Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (Fort Worth, TX)
2007 – “Elephant Pants” Maple Syrup, Omotesando Hills [S and O] (Tokyo)
2009 – “Chinatsu Ban/How to Eat an Elephant: One Bite a Day” The Parco Factory (Tokyo)
2025 – “Art Fair Tokyo 2025 (Solo Booth)” (Tokyo)
Group Exhibitions
1997 – “Nyoro Exhibition” P-HOUSE (Tokyo)
2001 – “Yokai Festival” Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo)
2002 – “HIROPON SHOW” (Kyoto, Osaka)
“Tokyo Girls Bravo 2” NADiff (Tokyo)
2003 – “Hope — The Future Is in Our Hands” LAFORET Harajuku (Tokyo)
2004 – “Tokyo Girls Bravo New York” Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York)
2005 – “Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture” Japan Society (New York)
“Kaikai Kiki Exhibition” Aoi Gallery (Osaka)
2006 – “Aya Takano, Chiho Aoshima, Chinatsu Ban Exhibition” Mizuho Oshiro Gallery (Kagoshima)
“Agnes Art Fair” Agnes Hotel (Tokyo)
2007 – “Red Hot: Contemporary Asian Art Rising” Museum of Fine Arts (Texas)
2008 – “Exhibition Kaikai Kiki Artists” Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)
2021 – “2021 Kaikai Kiki Autumn Show” Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)
2025 – “Animal Forest” Kaikai Kiki Gallery (Tokyo)
From “Doris C. Freedman Plaza Sculpture Installation” Public Art Fund (New York), 2005
Photo: Tom Powel
From “To Eat an Elephant, One Bite at a Time” Parco Gallery (Tokyo), 2009
Exhibition Overview
Chinatsu Ban Solo Exhibition: “The Tale at the Heart of Everything”
Exhibition Period: February 6 (Fri) – February 28 (Sat) 2026
Opening Reception: February 6 (Fri) 18:00–20:00
Gallery Hours: 11:00–19:00
Closed on Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays
Venue: Kaikai Kiki Gallery
Motoazabu Crest Building B1F, 2-3-30 Motoazabu,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0046, Japan
