Tokyo Gendai

Past
Sep 12 – Sep 14, 2025
Tokyo

ART FAIR DETAILS

Tokyo Gendai
Booth C03
PACIFICO Yokohama
Sep 12 – 14, 2025

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Pace’s booth will spotlight a small group of artists from its contemporary program, including Gideon Appah, Jules de Balincourt, Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, and Elmgreen & Dragset, whose works align in their explorations of identity and memory.

The fair will precede Miami-based artist Alejandro Piñeiro Bello’s first solo presentation in Hong Kong at Pace and will coincide with Elmgreen & Dragset’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at Pace.

Solo exhibitions of work by Leo Villareal and Sonia Delaunay will be on view at Pace in Tokyo during the run of the fair, and a solo exhibition by James Turrell will remain on view through September 27 at Pace in Seoul.

Highlights on Pace’s booth at Tokyo Gendai include:

Three new, dreamlike paintings by Gideon Appah examining histories of Ghanaian post-colonial cinema, leisure culture, and nightlife

New and recent works by Jules de Balincourt, who is known internationally for colorful, radiant paintings that meditate on the social, political, and cultural dynamics of an increasingly globalized world

Two ethereal new landscapes by Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, whose first-ever solo presentation in Hong Kong opens at Pace’s H Queen's gallery on September 18

Still Life (Blue) (2024), a sculpture by Elmgreen & Dragset, whose first solo exhibition in Los Angeles—opening at Pace on September 13—coincides with the artists’ 30th anniversary of working as a duo and the 20th anniversary of their famed Prada Marfa installation

Featured Works

Gideon Appah

b. 1987, Accra, Ghana

Gideon Appah draws on childhood memories, dreams, and West African landscapes and popular culture to create dazzling, jewel-toned paintings. His early works are an ode to his hometown of Accra, incorporating elements like lottery numbers and domestic symbols. Personal and imagined figures—his grandmother, brother, friends, or characters from Ghanaian films—recur across compositions infused with royal blue, crimson, and dark orange. Appah often paints over found and collaged posters, prints, photographs, and film referencing family professions such as barbers or tailors. His process involves priming, sketching, and transferring prints with glue before carving them out and applying layers of paint. Recent works show a shift toward oil paint, flatter perspectives, and expressive color fields of impasto brushstrokes. Appah creates dream-like, symbolic narratives rooted in Ghanaian post-colonial cinema, leisure culture, and nightlife, using newspaper clippings from the 1950s to 80s as source material. His influences include artists Kerry James Marshall, Barkley L. Hendricks, Charles White, Bob Thompson, and Joseph Yoakum.

Two Sitters by Gideon Appah — Gideon Appah, *Two Sitters*, 2025, acrylic and oil on canvas, 63 cm × 90 cm × 6 cm (24-13/16" × 35-7/16" × 2-3/8"), overall installed

Appah received his BFA from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, in 2012. Exhibitions include solo presentations at Goethe-Institut Ghana, Accra, (2013); Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana (2013); and Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond (2022). He won the 1st Merit Prize at the Barclays L’Atelier Art Competition (2015), becoming the first international recipient. His work is held in public collections worldwide, including Absa Money Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa; Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul; Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway; Musée d'Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden, Marrakesh, Morocco; and Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

Jules de Balincourt

b. 1972, Paris

Jules de Balincourt is known internationally for colorful, radiant paintings that meditate on the social, political, and cultural dynamics of an increasingly globalized world. The artist graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco in 1998 and earned a Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College, New York in 2005. He later ran the Brooklyn–based community and events center Starr Space. In 2009, his work were featured in the 10th Havana Biennial at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. In 2021, de Balincourt presented his first solo exhibition in Spain titled After The Gold Rush, at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga. That show, which was curated by Helena Juncosa, featured a selection of works created by the artist in the last decade.

De Balincourt has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2010); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2014–15); Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel, Germany (2015); Victoria Miro Gallery, London (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018); and Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Málaga, Spain (2021), among others. His work can be found in the collections of The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne, Rochechouart, France, and other institutions around the world. Raised in California, the artist currently splits his time between Brooklyn, New York, and Malpais, Costa Rica.

Leisure In The Shadow Of Fire by Jules de Balincourt — Jules de Balincourt, *Leisure In The Shadow Of Fire*, 2025, oil on panel, 20" x 24" x 1-3/4" (50.8 cm x 61 cm x 4.4 cm)

Unsettled Bodies by Jules de Balincourt — Jules de Balincourt, *Unsettled Bodies*, 2025, oil and oil stick on panel, 30" × 34" x 1-3/4" (76.2 cm × 86.4 cm x 4.4 cm)

Elmgreen & Dragset

Michael Elmgreen | b. 1961, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ingar Dragset | b. 1969, Trondheim, Norway

Elmgreen & Dragset pursue questions of identity and belonging and investigate social, cultural, and political structures in their artistic practice. They are interested in the discourse that can ensue when objects are radically re-contextualized and traditional modes for the representation of art are altered. Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset are based in Berlin and have worked together as an artist duo since 1995. They have presented numerous solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide including Kunsthalle Zürich (2001); Tate Modern, London (2004); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain (2009); ZKM - Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany (2010); Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2013–14); Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel (2016); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2018–19); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas (2019–2020); Fondazione Prada, Milan (2022); Centre Pompidou-Metz, France (2023–24); Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul (2024–25); and Musée d’Orsay, Paris (2024–25). In 2009, they represented both the Nordic and the Danish Pavilions at the 53rd Venice Biennale. They are renowned for large-scale public installations including Short Cut (2003), an installation comprising a Fiat Uno and a camper trailer, which appear to emerge from the ground; Prada Marfa (2005), a full-scale replica of a Prada boutique installed along U.S. Route 90 in Valentine, Texas; and Van Gogh’s Ear (2016), a gigantic vertical swimming pool placed in front of Rockefeller Center in New York City.

This Is How We Play Together, Fig. 4 by Elmgreen & Dragset — Elmgreen & Dragset, *This Is How We Play Together, Fig. 4*, 2023, bronze, lacquer, 57-1/16" × 22-7/16" × 22-1/16" (144.9 cm × 57 cm × 56 cm)

Camouflaged, Fig. 7 by Elmgreen & Dragset — Elmgreen & Dragset, *Camouflaged, Fig. 7*, 2024, mirror-polished stainless steel, lacquer, 7' 10-1/2" × 17-5/16" × 17-11/16" (240 cm × 44 cm × 44.9 cm)

Adaptation, Fig. 18 by Elmgreen & Dragset — Elmgreen & Dragset, *Adaptation, Fig. 18*, 2022, stainless steel, 106-5/16" x 17-11/16" x 4" (270 cm x 45 cm x 4 cm)

Secreto by Alejandro Piñeiro Bello — Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, *Secreto*, 2025, oil on linen, 72" × 60" (182.9 cm × 152.4 cm)

Alejandro Piñero Bello

b. 1990, Havana, Cuba

Alejandro Piñeiro Bello paints the enduring spirit of the Caribbean through ethereal landscapes, folkloric symbols, and saturated color. Drawing from the flora and fauna of Cuba, Los Angeles, and Miami, his practice explores personal memory and collective history. He takes inspiration from the writings of Cuban poets and philosophers, such as José Lezama Lima, José Martí, Virgilio Piñera, and Julián del Casal. He shares a visual language with the artists Wifredo Lam, Manuel Mendive, and Víctor Manuel García Valdés, while referencing painters such as Paul Gauguin, Hokusai, Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and Wassily Kandinsky. Working in oil on raw linen, burlap, or hemp, Piñeiro Bello builds textured compositions using layered color and vibrant contrasts. His dreamlike worlds occupy a timeless space informed by Caribbean mythology, postcolonial thought, and diasporic identity.

Fantasma by Alejandro Piñeiro Bello — Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, *Fantasma*, 2025, oil on linen, 84" × 76" (213.4 cm × 193 cm)

Piñeiro Bello studied at The National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba (2006–10). He was awarded grants from The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York, in collaboration with Pioneer Works, New York. Residencies include the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson (2022), and Rubell Museum, Miami (2023). Recent solo exhibitions include those held at NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (2023); KDR, Miami (2023–24), and Rubell Museum, Miami (2023–24). His work is held in important collections such as The Brownstone Foundation, Paris; Chrysler Museum Collection, Norfolk, Virginia; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Marquez Art Projects, Miami; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California; NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Rubell Museum, Miami; and The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation Collection, New York. Piñeiro Bello lives and works in Miami.