“Cat Art Market Roppongi” will be held in conjunction with Cat Day This exhibition will display and sell works by contemporary artists, famous painters, and popular celebrity painters. Free admission from February 20th to 26th! A Japanese art work of a Wajima-lacquered cat that escaped the Noto Peninsula earthquake will also be on display.

KOU Productions LLC (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo / CEO: Yoshiko Sukigara (illustrator)) will hold an art event "Cat Art Market Roppongi" at Roppongi Stripespace (10-33, Roppongi 5-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo) from February 20 (Tuesday) to 26 (Monday), which is the cat day of 2.22 (nyan-nyan-nan), in the art center of Roppongi, Tokyo. The "Cat Art Market Roppongi" will be held at Roppongi Striped Space (10-33, Roppongi 5-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo), an art event led by 80 veteran cat art artists and celebrity painters of art, painting, manga, animation, ink painting, calligraphy, crafts, and handmade items (the first event will be held in 2022).

In today's society, where lifestyles are changing, the popularity of "cats" with their healing and gentle qualities is on the rise, and the economic effect is also known as "nekonomics（cat economic effect）. The power of cat art will provide joy and healing to visitors.

〈Official website

https://kawaii-art.com/

An example of exhibited works

The contents of the exhibition will include viewing of cat art works, sales of cat art works and original products of the artists, introduction of the artists, gallery talks, and workshops. Anyone can participate and admission is free.

(1,000 people will receive prizes from Inaba Pet Food)

Cat Art Market Roppongi

Main Exhibitors

Main exhibiting artists

Akiko Ikeda: Popular picture book author of "Dayan the Cat" series

Hidetoshi Omori: Legend in the animation world. Hidetoshi Omori: Animation legend and Gundam's animation director. He is a cat lover.

Sachiko Nakajima: Popular cat illustrator of "Fairy Cats. Her large work "Life Tree and Fairy Cats" will be exhibited.

Yukio Takahashi: Pioneer artist of "cat painters. His cool cat paintings have been exhibited in Japan and abroad.

Tofun Kobayashi: A top leiter in the world of ink and wash painting who is also active as an art director for movies and TV programs.

Clotch: A contemporary art character in which a stray cat connects with people and makes the weak happy.

Charmy doll: A doll that has been around since the Showa period exhibits Charmy, a collaborative cat. (Kodama Sangyo)

The five elite artists of the museum exhibited their works from Okayama.

Other veteran artists in various fields.

Akiko Ikeda "Dayan the Cat" exhibited.

<Main entertainers

Nobuyuki Tsuchiya of NAITU: Entertainer who is good at drawing. He is famous for his paintings of horses, but he also exhibited his family's cat "Horikiri no Tuck".

Ujigami Ichiban (Kabuki-style rock'n'roller): A cat lover whose face does not match his cat, he exhibits pictures of his cat.

Megumi Hara (singer): A celebrity who loves to draw. She has been showing new paintings of her charming cats.

Mihoko Fujita (Morning Drama actress and painter): A celebrity with a cat who likes to paint and has a private exhibition in Ginza.

Ruri Shibuya (singer/painter): Rock singer and painter with a unique view of the world.

Yanagiya Kokin (rakugo storyteller): Son of Yanagiya Tsubame, who was good at drawing, he expresses cats in calligraphy.

Maruko・Kareiko Hayashiya(comic storyteller): She is a disaster prevention specialist and an animal lover. He presented pictures of cats with his family.

Other

Exhibited works of "Tack of Horikiri" by Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, Knights

◆About the Wajima-nuri art works to be exhibited

Wajima-nuri Chinkin Cat" (by Koji Itaya), an artwork that escaped the Noto Peninsula earthquake because it was sleeping in a warehouse in Tokyo, will also be exhibited. This excellent cat was the symbol of the lacquerware store "Lacquer Art Shibata," which has been promoting Wajima-nuri lacquerware and repairing lacquerware for 40 years. When asked, "Where is that cat now? The person who has taken over the lacquerware repair service found the cat sleeping in a warehouse in Tokyo. The cat was then exhibited at the "Neko Art Market Roppongi". At this exhibition, postcards will be made and the proceeds will be donated to Wajima lacquerware craftsmen, and the cat painters will send their support to the craftsmen, who can be considered their friends. (The lacquer art store "Lacquer Art Shibata" is scheduled to reopen in April.)

The gold cats will appear on Cat Day to serve as a bridge between the cat artists, visitors, and Wajima craftspeople.

Wajima-nuri Chinkin Cat" exhibits

Everyday, as needed.

Introductions and performances by the exhibiting artists.

February 22, 5:00 PM

Ujigami Ichiban and friends (songs and talks)

February 23-25, 5:00 PM

Manga artist Yuko Sugiyama, animation legend Hidetoshi Omori, and others

Gallery talks, mini-stages, and workshops will be held.

Event Summary

Name ："Neko Art Market Roppongi

Sponsor ：KOU Production LLC

Date ： February 20 (Tuesday) to 26 (Monday), 2024

　　　　　　　11:00 AM - 7:00 PM (until 3:00 PM on the last day)

Venue: Roppongi Stripespace

　　　　　　　Stripe House Building, 5-10-33 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032

　　　　　　　Phone number: 03-3405-8108

　　　　　　　Access: Subway Oedo Line/Hibiya Line Roppongi Station, Exit #3.

　　　　　　　　　　　　Turn right at Amando and go down Imoarai-zaka. 4 min. walk.

Exhibitors: About 80 cat art artists, cat-loving entertainers, etc. (see text)

Admission: Anyone can participate, free of charge

Present ：Giveaway from Inaba Pet Food Co. to the first 1,000 visitors.

Target number of visitors: 3,000

Exhibited works: Contemporary art by Mami Okamoto

Company Profile】 【Company Profile

Name ： KOU Production LLC

Establishment ： July 2023

CEO ： Yoshiko Sukikara (Illustrator)

Location ： 〈Head office

　　　　　　 Diamond Residence 304, 2-4-1 Hacchobori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0032, Japan

　　　　　　 Ichikawa Office

　　　　　　 4-7-50 Kokufudai, Ichikawa-shi, Ichikawa 272-0827, Japan

Mail : cat@kawaii-art.com

FAX number : 047-371-5786

Official website : https://kawaii-art.com/

Business ： Production linking art businesses and artists

　　　　　　 Transmission of art information and production of art

〈Align

Representative employee (CEO) Yoshiko Sukikara graduated from Musashino Art Junior College of Art and Design with a major in design, and completed her graduate studies at Nihon University's Graduate School of Global Business (MBA).

Since 1980, she has been active as an illustrator and designer in the field of children's books and later on the web (she has won numerous awards including the Nika-ten Design Division, the International Sumiga-kai exhibition (artist's name: Myoka Sukikara), and the "Photo Contest for Life"). In parallel, he has served as the president of a design planning company, a board member of an architecture company, a board member of a foundation, a part-time staff member of a university in the field of fine arts, and a board member of an academic society.

In 2021, he established the art organization "Studio Myouka" and became its representative. In 2021 and 2022, with the support of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' subsidized project "AFF," he organized "SDGs Illustration Theater" and "Neko Art Festa" as the basis for this exhibition, which are exhibitions where artists and creators can present their works and make social proposals in the Corona Disaster. (both at Roppongi Stripe Space: 80 artists) were held and received favorable reviews. Subsequently, he and the participating members also held the "Neko Art Metaverse Museum" and "Neko Art & Craft Exhibition. He also provided human resources for stage performances.

The demand for art in Japan has been extremely low, and the new coronavirus infection has added to the situation, causing artists to search for a way out and leaving a significant number of people in poverty. In contrast, art is recovering overseas, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has added "contemporary art" to the list of industries that will grow in the future. We believe that a global future of artists' activities is coming. Art is also a symbol of peace, and artists are considered pioneers.

Cats" are currently enjoying a boom in popularity, which is also known as "catonomics." Cats bring good fortune, bring artists and people together, and bring love, healing, and happiness.

Since the path to commercial development is too narrow for a voluntary organization, we dissolved the voluntary organization in June 2023 and established "COU Production LLC" in July 2023 to connect artists and businesses, albeit on a small scale.

In July 2023, the company held a "mini cat art exhibition and cat art workshop" at the WABI SABI Pavilion at Japan Expo Paris 2023 to conduct market research on cat art overseas. Since then, he has been registered with JETRO as an overseas exporter in the content field, and is currently conducting research overseas, while in Japan he is considering plans to lend cat art to medical institutions.

This exhibition, "Cat Art Market Roppongi," is the core project of KOU Production LLC. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Subsidy for Sustaining Small Businesses" was selected to cover a portion of the exhibition's costs. The exhibition has supporters including an international art exhibition director, a broadcaster, a planner, a copyright management specialist, and a veteran artist representative, making it an event in which cat artists invite cat artists to join them.

The Wajima craftsmen's team from the Noto Peninsula earthquake is one of the connections we have made.

This is our first Cats' Day event, and we hope to get it off the ground. The venue, Stripe House Space, will be closed due to the Roppongi area development, so we are looking for a new venue for the next event.