Eugene Kangawa / EUGENE STUDIO
Eugene Kangawa (born 1989, USA) is known for abstract painting and installations centered on themes of human existence, time, and history.
His exhibitions and projects include EUGENE STUDIO The New Sea/After the Rainbow (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2021–22); de-sport: (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2020); 1/2 century later. (Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, 2017); and 89+ (Serpentine Galleries, London, 2014), among others.
Following international recognition of his solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo—centered on “symbiosis” and the “power of imagination,” at which he became the youngest artist to hold such an exhibition—a permanent museum dedicated to his work, brought to life by the vision and dedicated efforts of collectors across Asia and ASEAN, is now under construction by a local operating organization on an approximately one-hectare site near a UNESCO World Heritage site in Bali. (The Eugene Museum in Bali is scheduled to open in 2026.)
His short film has also been selected for—and received awards at—several international film festivals, including the Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Brooklyn Film Festival, and the Pan African Film Festival.
He currently works near Tokyo at Atelier iii—a lush studio designed and DIY-built by the artist and his team—together with a diverse, cross-disciplinary staff.
ARCHIVED SITE
EUGENE STUDIO Atelier iii
For visitors – Located in Japan
Eugene Museum in Bali
Permanent museum, 2026–
EUGENE STUDIO After the rainbow at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
November 2021–February 2022
Preparatory room for EUGENE MUSEUM “Emerald”/EUGENE STUDIO 4th
Menteng, Jakarta
Light and shadow inside me
2021–, Aqueous dye on paper, faded by exposure to sunlight / 2022–, Gelatin silver print (photogram)
REFERENCES IN MEDIA & ACADEMIA
The New York Times International Weekly Edition (print) / The Japan Times weekly edition
2025
… Kangawa’s art and its spaces ask us to pause, consider the passage of time and the weight of our presence in it.”
… With “After the Rainbow,” his 2021 solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Kangawa reached a new milestone. At 32, he was the youngest artist ever to hold a solo exhibition at the museum. Exploring the possibilities of coexistence—between humanity and nature, the tangible and the imagined—the exhibition established Kangawa as a voice of piercing lucidity in a fragmented era.
… At Atelier iii (*Eugene’s Atelier), visitors encounter a spacious, meticulously curated mini museum showcasing several of the 35-year-old artist’s paintings, installations and sculptures. Beyond the public eye, workshop areas are tucked away behind walls, where his ongoing creative process quietly unfolds.
… One such work is “Goldrain,” an ongoing project Kangawa describes as an exploration of “creating new time.” Incorporating gold and silver fragments that mimic the movement of flowing water, the installation evolves gradually over the years, ensuring it remains in a state of perpetual transformation.
“These gold and silver particles remain the same for five years,” Kangawa explains. “Over time, like river stones or sand, their shapes diverge into tens of thousands of unique forms. In 50 years, it might be a new form of nature itself.”
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Exhibition Text
2021
*About Image/Imagine #1 man (sculpture, 2021)
“… a work that undoubtedly exists, yet can never be seen; its figure of ‘imagination’ multiplies into as many forms as there are viewers. As the artist remarks—‘this work carries the exhibition’s hidden side’—what ultimately underpins the exhibition is the amplitude and depth of our imagination.
What is presented here is only a part of the whole. Even so, the diverse modes of expression in EUGENE STUDIO’s work in this exhibition stimulate our awareness from multiple angles and lead us to insights we have not previously had. If the sea is the origin of life, then the consciousness nourished by this exhibition—serving as a source of new ideas and shaping how the world might be—may itself be called a ‘new sea.’”
Daisuke Miyatsu (Art Collector), The Age of Art × Technology, Kodansha Shinsho, 2017
Chapter 4: “Eugene Kangawa and THE EUGENE Studio”
“Now, art pieces created by team lab, takram, Rhizomatiks, and The Eugene attract worldwide attention. These next-gen companies ask the public a new sense of value by integrating Japanese unique concept and advanced technology. ”
Daisuke Miyatsu
Art collector and critic. President of Yokohama University of Art and Design; member of the Art Basel Global Patrons Council; board member of the Mori Art Museum; formerly Visiting Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. Since 1994 he has continued to collect artworks while working in the corporate sector, and even built his private residence in collaboration with artists—activities that have been widely profiled both in Japan and abroad.Born in Tokyo in 1963.
David Geers (An art critic)
“Passion in Monochrome,” 2017
“THE EUGENE Studio’s White Painting series […] transforming the canvases into nomadic shrines to love and memory… . White Painting series returns the monochrome to its iconic if uncertain place between a portal and a thing.”
At least in the American context, the battle today appears won by the latter position, thus cementing the monochrome within its materialist aspect. But what does it mean to go in the other direction—from Rodchenko to Malevich? Or perhaps better still, to linger on the border between the two, thereby rendering painting’s transcendental promises as transportive and projected, as staunchly material and emerging from an affectively constituted network? These questions inform the complexity of THE EUGENE Studio’s White Painting (2017)—a trio of white, seemingly simple monochromes.
David Geers
David Geers is an art critic who lives and works in New York. His writing has appeared in October, Frieze, Fillip, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, The Third Rail Quarterly, among other publications. Often focusing on the convergence of painting, politics and technology, his recent works include: “Neo-Modern,” October No. 139 (Winter 2012), “Formal Affairs,” Frieze, No. 169 (March 2015) and “Acts of Recognition,” Frieze, No. 191 (November-December 2017).
OFFICIAL INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES
ARTIST INTERVIEW
Published by Eugene Museum in Bali, 2025
Watch Video
ARTIST INTERVIEW
Published by Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2021
Watch VideoLECTURE, KEYNOTE SPEECH
International House, Asia Society, The University of Tokyo, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo University of the Arts, Hosei University, Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology), Keio University, and others
PUBLICATION
Catalog: Eugene i, ii, iii
EUGENE iii Goldrain
EUGENE ii Rainbow & White (tentative)
EUGENE I Image/Imagine 想像 & Light and shadow inside me
Catalog: EUGENE STUDIO After the rainbow Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Official booklet by Bijutsu Techo and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Catalog: special edition 1/2 Century later. Shiseido Gallery, 2019
