Art at KIX - Kansai Airports × Peach "KIX CULTURE GATE Project"

Art at KIX - Kansai Airports × Peach ”KIX CULTURE GATE Project”

The "KIX CULTURE GATE Project" aims to transform the airport into a venue where art and culture intersect.
This art project is part of the second phase of KAP’s “KIX CULTURE GATE Project” which aims to transform the airport into a space where art and culture interact. In this collaboration between KAP and Peach, the corridor in the domestic departure area of Terminal 2 (“T2”), leading up to the boarding gates, has been adorned with diverse artworks by 19 artists and groups with close ties to the Kansai region, as well as landscape pictures showcasing attractions of the destinations served by Peach. These artworks help create a museum-like atmosphere within the terminal and offer fresh perspectives on travel.

View the Phase One

Kakeromajima Island: Sunset at Nishi-Amuro

ART WORKS

MIDORI ARAI

silhouette #Synonyms for the Blink 3

I move my brush as the painting wills it, each stroke a gesture toward capturing a moment in perpetual flux.
The silhouette remains unknowable until its completion—becoming something, dissolving into nothing, or dwelling in the in-between of becoming.
The time spent mirrors a journey through the amorphous and unformed, a quiet search before thought finds its word, before essence takes shape, before it is named or bound.
Abstract painting is the language of abstract thought, and this work stands as a trace of the delicate effort to preserve the beauty of ambiguity within the frame of a canvas.
(Photo: Haruka Oka)

MIDORI ARAI

Born in Ibaraki, Japan in 1992, graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. She completed a master’s degree in oil painting at Kyoto University of The Arts in 2022. Arai has developed the infinite possibilities of paintings by applying to finite physical acts and gestures. The viewer can relive the physical acts and strokes through the work, expressing the nature of life and time.

ISHIBA AYAKO

Between 2 and 3 [still lifes] #5

Some of the still life objects in this work are outlined, giving the impression of a painting at first glance. However, this is actually a photographic work in which the outlines were directly drawn onto the subjects before being photographed. Photography can be seen as a medium that translates the three-dimensional (world) into a two-dimensional (plane) form. Yet, when we view photographs, we tend to imagine or recall the spatial and physical presence of the subjects, convincing ourselves that they represent the three-dimensional world. In this work, the "outline," which exists solely in two dimensions, intervenes in our attempt to amplify the information from two dimensions back into three. This creates a visual illusion where our perception oscillates "between two and three," inviting viewers to reflect on their way of seeing and interpreting the world.

ISHIBA AYAKO

Born in 1991 in Hyogo Prefecture. Based in the Kansai region. Primarily working with photography, their practice explores the discrepancies that arise between "seeing" and "perceiving," directing attention to the mechanisms of visual recognition. Recent exhibitions include the 2024 「Kyoto Prefecture Emerging Artists Exhibition (The Museum of Kyoto)」, where they received the Media Award, 2, 3, 4, (and 1 / or 1) (Horikawa New Cultural Building, Kyoto), and 「Messages from the Town (A-LAB, Hyogo) 」in 2023.

Shiho Ueda

Hope springs everyday colors -New moon-

It is said that the human eye can distinguish 10 million colors. The indescribable presence that fills every corner of space—in the invisible dialogue we exchange with it, subtle ripples emerge, trembling, and works are born. Even in ordinary places, I felt the quiet sprouting of particles of light that certainly breathe. I created as if going to welcome that presence. As if memories of color gently insert themselves alongside our many days.

Shiho Ueda

Under the theme of “What Colors do,” she continues to capture the hidden hues within memory and consciousness, painting landscapes of the soul. Through the colors interwoven in everyday life, she explores cycles of regeneration and reunion. Her artistic practice spans spatial design, dialogic drawing, live performances, and public projects across various fields. In recent years, she has been deeply engaged in the revitalization of urban spaces, creating works that give back to society and foster new forms of value and connection.

Tomoyuki Ueno

-above & under us - 2023 Cape Muroto -

This work is a combination of two photographs: on the left is the sky taken from an airplane window, and on the right is a photograph of the ocean taken from the ground. In other words, two photographs of the world above and under the clouds are connected by a horizon line. We are born between the sea and the sky and live with the great flow of nature. The water from the ocean becomes clouds, which become rain, and then rivers, which return to the ocean. This photograph, which appears to be divided into four parts, is in fact connected to one another.

Tomoyuki Ueno

After the graduation from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, Ueno lives and works in Berlin and Kobe since 2009. He completed his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts as a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship student and a Pola Art Foundation overseas trainee. Ueno is active internationally. In 2018, he was selected for the Moscow Biennale For Young Art, in 2023 for the VOCA exhibition at the Ueno Royal Museum. In 2024 he had a solo exhibition at the Galerie Martin Mertens in Berlin. In 2025, he will be in residence at the Tusen Takk Foundation (Michigan).

Yoichiro Otani

Sora/Ku

This piece draws on the Kanji character “空” (pronounced sora or ku), which conveys both “sky” and “emptiness.” Through a minimalist arrangement and gradually transforming strokes, I aimed to reflect these two intertwined meanings—the vastness of the sky and a serene void. Soft gradations of pale blue trace the character’s slow dissolution, so that the viewer can sense how “空” shifts between presence and absence. Set here in an airport—a place of departure into countless unknowns—may this depiction of “空” resonate with your anticipation for boundless skies and the promise of the unknown.

Yoichiro Otani

Born in 1990 in Osaka. Completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. Studied as an exchange student at Tsinghua University during the course of his studies. Through the creation of visual poetry using Kanji characters as a medium, he investigates the intersection of seeing and reading, and the interplay of shape, sound, and meaning. Major solo exhibitions include “云云” at Miaki Gallery. His publications include the picture book “Art from KANJI” (Fukuinkan Shoten), among others.

RIYOO KIM

The Eye that Stares into the Void

Interpreting the patterns found on ancient pottery and bronze ware as mystical symbols representing the circulation of energy, the artist uniquely creates and expresses sculptural works featuring decorative motifs that can be described as "NEO JOMON." These motifs fuse the imagery of electronic circuits—used in modern energy and information circulation systems—with ancient designs. However, the core of this expression lies in the darkness deep within the single eye. The exploration of the unseen—such as "consciousness," "quantum," and "energy"—is a central theme in RIYOO KIM's artistic pursuit.
(Photo: Akihito Inui(Pillar) )

RIYOO KIM

Born in Osaka, Japan, to a Japanese father and a Korean mother. Earned a master's degree from the Graduate School of Arts Production at Osaka University of Arts. Established an independent practice in Osaka. Aspires to create works that will endure for ten thousand years, much like Jomon pottery and other ancient artifacts. Has expanded artistic activities both domestically and internationally, including participation in the Yokohama Triennale, as well as exhibitions in South Korea, Hong Kong, France, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond.

MASAYA KUSHINO

Sphinx of the forest

Just like the lotus flower that takes root in mud and blooms beautifully on the water's surface, jewel beetles grow magnificently within decaying wood before emerging into the world. Their existence inspires people as a symbol of living purely and beautifully despite the various sufferings and sorrows in life. The imaginary animal adorned with jewel beetle wings protects nature as it changes with the times, guiding it toward its proper form.

MASAYA KUSHINO

Born in Hiroshima, Japan in 1982. Now Based in Kyoto, he continues to create footwear designs influenced by traditional Japanese Craftsmanship. Currently, he is creating sculptures with feet and shoes as motifs, with themes of views on life and death and human history.

KUBOKI Kaname

POT.1

Using acrylic panels, I would like to express the wavering relationship between the "objects" that actually exist there and the "images" that appear through light. When an acrylic object is illuminated with light, the light passes through the acrylic and an image is projected onto the object on the other side of the acrylic plate. The image that is projected through an object appears more clearly than the object due to the refraction of light. There is a strange feeling that the real thing and the image are being reversed.

KUBOKI Kaname

I create objects using ceramics and works made of overlapping acrylic plates. These pieces do not have a specific motif, but instead move between a sense of déjà vu and the unknown, attempting to express forms that evoke vitality.

YUKI SAKUTA

The place where it was sung

In the MANYOSHU - The oldest surviving anthology of Japanese poetry, I came across names that are said to represent places: Tsumugano, Makuraga, Yufuma Mountain, and Susano Inlet, among many others. Yet today, we don’t know where these names correspond to, or if they even refer to actual locations. Perhaps they are purely poetic constructs—unfamiliar words woven into the fabric of the songs. These names exist as sounds that build the essence of the poetry, evoking places that emerge into existence only through being sung. Inspired by this, I have depicted my thoughts on these imagined locations that come alive through song.

YUKI SAKUTA

I draw artworks based on things that remain in my mind, Fairy tales, Mythology, Novels, Music I heard a long time ago. I express fuzzy image of memories by trees and flowers of abstract silhouette. I draw artworks of impulsive feelings with many colors.

TAKAYUKI DAIKOKU

Cosmos No.01 (outdoor)

This sculpture was exhibited in the outdoor art exhibition Land Art Schlosspark Wagenitz, held in the natural park of Wagenitz village in Brandenburg, Germany. It was one of four large-scale works presented in the show. The piece features a white, artificial organic form juxtaposed with the natural organic forms of the surroundings, separated by an iron frame cage. This structure explores the ambiguous boundary between interior and exterior, drawing inspiration from the transitional spatiality found in traditional Japanese architecture, such as entrances, verandas, and tatami rooms. The work attempts to create harmony between cosmos (order) and chaos (the natural state of disorder).
(Photo: Takayuki Daikoku)

TAKAYUKI DAIKOKU

Born in 1976 in Shiga, Japan, the artist has spent a total of approximately six and a half years in Germany across two separate periods, engaging in artistic activities. Currently based in Shiga and Tokyo, their work is deeply influenced by childhood memories of natural landscapes, an exploration of Japan’s syncretic culture, and experiences from time in Germany. Through their practice, the artist seeks to interpret the forms, structures, and diversity of nature, striving to uncover the harmonious beauty that emerges from the coexistence of contrasting elements.

Hayaki Nishigaki

A landscape of the Keihan Highway

Kyoto and Osaka were once bustling with ships traveling along the Yodo River, handling both travel and logistics. However, these were eventually replaced by trains and cars, and tunnels and bypasses were constructed, making roads a means to reach destinations quickly and cheaply. Speaking of straight lines, they evoke Barnett Newman's zips and the decline of Route 66 in the Pixar movie "Cars." Straight lines are motifs that encompass competition and inequality, and they can edit the composition of "Rakuchu Rakugai-zu." This is the current view of the Keihan Highway Map.

Hayaki Nishigaki

Nishigaki plans and manages the Kyoto Sento Arts Festival to redefine the significance of art festivals through public baths and the surrounding environment, and creates ink paintings of Godzilla, as a vessel of the Japanese as a defeated nation, using traditional Japanese methods such as shan shui and enso, crossing domains to pursue the possibility of expression. Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1985, he completed a master's degree at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2012. He works and leads a shared studio "STUDIOHAIDENBAN" in Fushimi, Kyoto since 2015. In recent years, he has participated in Artist-in-Residence programs in Qatar and New York, and held solo exhibitions in New York, Tainan, and Hong Kong.

TOMONARI HASHIMOTO

Untitled

My current work is deeply rooted in experiences from my childhood. I was fascinated by origami and model kits, and there was a time when I became particularly interested in shrines, temples, and Buddhist statues. I also grew up surrounded by the plaster and bronze sculptures created by my sculptor father. I loved gazing at the plants and trees in the garden visible from our house, the mountains stretching beyond, and the ever-changing landscapes passing by from a car window.
In my approach to work, I aim to maintain a conscious distance from my personal thoughts and feelings while still creating something that conveys the intensity of the artist's passion. I value the subtle fluctuations that cannot be calculated with numbers, the quiet presence of objects, and the environments that surround them.
(Photo: Gentoku Katakura)

TOMONARI HASHIMOTO

Born in 1990 in Wakayama Prefecture. Solo exhibitions include the 2024 exhibition at the Kumano Kodo Nakahechi Art Museum. Major group exhibitions include EARTHLY BODIES at Sarah Myerscough Gallery in 2024, and The Museum’s Summer Vacation 13 feat. Tomonari Hashimoto at the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, in 2023. Finalist for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2019.

YUTAKA HASHIMOTO

Study for Null Portrait of someone#167

The characters I use as motifs are common images of my own creation. These characters are given specific stroke orders and transformed into symbols. Through the process of repetitive drawing, their preservation and transformation are captured in the artwork like a series of afterimages in stop-motion animation. When viewers encounter these unfamiliar characters, they naturally begin a process of recalling and referencing characters from their own memories, trying to reconcile the differences between their memories and what they see in the artwork. This process transforms the work into not only a powerful painting and piece of art but also into a portrait that serves as a documentary medium - becoming a record of a living person's existence.

YUTAKA HASHIMOTO

Born in Osaka in 1979. Graduated from Kyoto Saga University of Arts (Department of Fine Arts) and Osaka Sogo College of Design (Department of Visual Design). Based in the Kansai region, has exhibited work at domestic and international art fairs and group exhibitions. Has held solo exhibitions in Osaka, Tokyo, and London.

AKIHIRO HASEGAWA

halo

This piece is painted with oil paints on an acrylic panel. Painting on acrylic panels allows for a unique expression of "light." When exposed to strong lighting, the work creates a visual effect as if it is glowing from within, revealing new possibilities for visual expression, which I find deeply inspiring. "Light" is the most significant motif for me. In Buddhism, the theme of "light" appears in many contexts. Amitabha Buddha, known as the Buddha of the Western Pure Land, derives from the Sanskrit word Amitābha, which means "infinite light." The phrase Namu Amida Butsu can be understood as an expression of devotion to "infinite light." This work aims to reinterpret the Buddhist concept of "light" in a contemporary context.

AKIHIRO HASEGAWA

Akihiro Hasegawa (b. 1997, Mie Prefecture, Japan) is a contemporary artist based in Tokyo, Japan. A successor to a family-run temple, Hasegawa entered the Buddhist priesthood at Saikyo Temple, Mt. Hiei at 10 years old. In 2016, at the age of 19, he enrolled in the Tokyo University of the Arts, the most prestigious art school in Japan, which, considering its notoriously low acceptance rate, is a rare and striking accomplishment. In 2019, he completed the Buddhist Shidokegyo (Four Preliminary Practices) at Saikyo-ji Temple, Mt. Hiei (general HQ of the Tendai Shinsei sect) and, in thefollowing year,beganhismaster’sdeg reeatthe T okyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts, MFA Department of Design, Planning Theory Research Institute, which he graduated in the spring of 2024.

Hiroko Hasegawa

kusa

I painted this oil painting inspired by the vibrant grass growing near my studio. It combines everyday scenery with imaginative elements. The grass seems to be looking at me as if we made eye contact, creating a playful spark that expands into imagination. Taking a plane and stepping away from the everyday might change the way we perceive the familiar.

Hiroko Hasegawa

1993 Born in Mie Prefecture
2021 Completed Graduate School of Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts
2024 “Transparent Room : Ungraspable Distant Now”, MJK Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2024 “DAY” Gallery Blue 3143/Tokyo
She is based in Tokyo and Kyoto and creates paintings and sculptures.

TEPPEI MIYAKE

Kimitsu Sand Vessel

In the 40 years since the high economic growth of Japan, the midwestern part of Chiba Prefecture has supplied the Tokyo metropolitan area with mountain sand equivalent to about 1/5 of the landfill area in Tokyo Bay, or about 1,300 high-rise buildings. The mountains that have disappeared have been transformed into concrete, and industrial waste has been landfilled on the sites.
Kimitsu Sandware” combines parts of the burial method used by the artist's company, New Funeral Rites Works, with the hundreds of thousands of years old strata of Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture, which were excavated in three dimensions. In this work, shell fossils taken from the stratum are used instead of human remains. The act of “digging up the stratum” is seen as an act of going back in history, expressing the process by which “things that could not exist” come to exist.

TEPPEI MIYAKE

Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1985 and currently lives in Tokyo. TEPPEI MIYAKE creates art works on the theme of “absenteeism” and runs a business called “New Funeral Service Manufacturing” that produces and sells new home tombstones.

KOSUKE MOTOHASHI

Universal Composition - Infinity - Infinity

This artwork is part of the "Universal Composition" series, which is composed entirely of paint spatters (particles). The composition encompasses contrasting colors—light vs. dark, warm vs. cool—arranged within a grid, with diagonal colors depicted as "nested structures" within each grid section. This layered structure references the orderliness of mandalas and Eastern cosmology, visually representing through countless colored particles the principle of harmony where "different beings and opposing elements encompass one another and are sublimated into a greater unified whole."

KOSUKE MOTOHASHI

Contemporary artist, producer/curator of the KIX CULTURE GATE Project. Born in 1989 in Hyogo Prefecture, and currently based in Tokyo. Motonashi explores the theme of "truth" (what is certain for the world/self, unavoidable realities, objects of belief), utilizing various mediums such as painting, sculpture, and spatial installations to transcend the notions of "self" and "present" in order to confirm fragments of truth discovered at different times.
Notable exhibitions include "samsara" (MIAKI Gallery, Tokyo), art fairs such as "Art Central Hong Kong(HK), and "MEET YOUR ART FESTIVAL" (Tokyo), as well as awards including "Contest in New York" (Ashok Jain Gallery).

BAKIBAKI

SHARACLONE #001

created by the artist BAKIBAKI, who reincarnates Edo-period ukiyo-e through contemporary techniques such as murals and digital art. The complete collection of 28 unique 1/1 works is available exclusively through secondary distribution on Opensea and has been cherished by many digital collectors as rare Japanese NFT art with a distinct street aesthetic. The narrative setting features clones of the villain "Edo Hyoe" who is revived in 2044, while the exhibition period and number of works are inspired by the mysterious ukiyo-e artist Tōshūsai Sharaku (1794-1795). https://opensea.io/collection/sharaclone
https://opensea.io/collection/sharaclone "

BAKIBAKI

Born in Osaka in 1978. The signature "BAKI Pattern," which updates traditional Japanese patterns for the modern era, embodies the fusion of tradition and street culture. While his activities are rooted in live painting, he currently focuses primarily on large-scale murals. Since 2021, he has been developing the "Yodo Wall" mural project centered in Juso, Osaka.

Kenta SENEKT

Arrangement 27

The "Arrangement" series is created using various techniques including spray painting, splattering, and squeegee methods, based on photographs of landscapes and artificial objects the artist has encountered in daily life. It emerges as a gaze that seeks to find answers to questions: What can we perceive and comprehend? Are there things we can affirm as equally existing and shareable? The work appears as one perspective that focuses on a single point to gain both questions and answers.

Kenta SENEKT

Born in Kyoto. In 2007, he began his production activities focusing on live painting, a form of improvisational expression. He has gradually shifted his media to wall paintings and tableaus that combine internal elements, and in recent years has expanded his range of expression to include installations and three-dimensional works. The intimacy of friendship, separated memories, snapshots that connect them, mix everyday emotions and events, and reflect them on the support. After working abroad in Melbourne from 2013 to 2017 and Berlin in 2018, he is currently based in Osaka.

Amami moments: where the city retreats from your mind.

We are pleased to present tourism photos of Amami, a Peach Airlines destination.

Tokunoshima Island: Bullfighting

Amami-Oshima Island: Kinsakubaru

Tokunoshima Island: Senma Coast

Kakeromajima Island: Sunset at Nishi-Amuro

For inquiries about artists and their works: hams@hongo-aerospace.com