Nei nei / Masuda Yuuna Duo Exhibition "What Is Cute"

2026.06.05 Fri -06.14 Sun 開催中

Exhibition name
Nei nei / Yuuna Masuda Duo Exhibition "What Is Cute"
Period
06 05, 2026(Fri) -06 14, 2026(Sun)
Venue
AND COLLECTION Contemporary Art (Omotesando Hills B2F)
Artist
Neinei　Yuuna Masuda　

AND COLLECTION Contemporary Art is pleased to announce "What Is Cute," a duo exhibition by Nei nei and Yuuna Masuda.

This exhibition attempts to re-examine the contours of the sensation of "kawaii" through each artist's expression, starting from the question, "What Is Cute?"

 

Nei nei reinterprets the Japan-originated "kawaii" culture historically and archaeologically from a "glocalization" perspective. Through its deconstruction and reconstruction, she presents the possibilities of a new "kawaii culture" from a transborder viewpoint. Using "Tokyo Girl" as an iconic motif, she develops illustrations that depict images constantly transforming with time and culture.

 
 

Yuuna Masuda creates works that preserve traces of memories and emotions on canvas through semi-figurative painting and vivid colors, starting from memories of encountering and losing animals. She visualizes fleeting existences and ambiguous memories through her paintings.

 

The practices of these two artists with different backgrounds will expand the meaning of "kawaii" and provide a space to re-examine its ambiguity and multifaceted nature. The exhibition title "What Is Cute" opens this very question into the space, leaving it to each viewer's interpretation.

 
Neineiのポートレート
Neinei

Born in China in 1993. Graduated from Tama Art University, Graduate School of Art and Design, Doctoral Program in Art. Her artistic practice centers on the concept of "glocalization," researching the Japan-originated "kawaii" culture from a historical and contemporary perspective, exploring the possibilities of its deconstruction and reconstruction. She endeavors to express and disseminate a new "kawaii culture" that transcends language and national borders. Her signature motif, "Tokyo Girl," is a fictional, abstract girl embodying the artist's own ideal, depicted as an entity that originates on the streets of Harajuku and spreads across the globe, continuously transforming with time and culture. In her work, she incorporates the "hikime kagibana" (slit-eye, hook-nose) style of depicting figures, which is associated with ukiyo-e and manga, from the perspective of "transnational illustration," reconstructing contemporary girl imagery into a unique style. She captures the delicate, precarious, flexible, biased, and sometimes cruel complex sensibilities inherent in girls and expresses them as "Tokyo Girl." In recent years, she has also focused on pictorial composition, color, brushstrokes, and line strength, pursuing a contemporary girl image imbued with vitality. She has received awards in animation and book design and actively holds solo and group exhibitions both in Japan and abroad, centered on "transnational illustration."

Go to Neinei's artist page

Artist Instagram

Yuuna Masudaのポートレート
Yuuna Masuda

Born in Oita Prefecture in 1998, she completed her master's degree in painting at Kyushu Sangyo University's Graduate School of Art. She began seriously studying painting during her undergraduate years, and after the passing of her beloved dog, she started creating semi-figurative works with animal motifs. Her art explores memories of time spent with animals she has met, the emotions that arose at those times, and the feelings of fading existence as time passes. She uses vibrant colors and semi-figurative expressions to capture the ambiguity of memory and traces of emotion on the canvas. Her work quietly embodies not only the memory of loss but also the affection and warmth of time spent together. Her creative process centers on preserving in her paintings things she doesn't want to fade, such as memories of time spent with animals she encountered and her feelings at those moments. She hopes her work quietly resonates with viewers' memories and emotions, fostering a small sense of affection through her art.

Go to Yuuna Masuda's artist page

Artist Instagram

Artworks

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