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    Ardú Street Art in Cork, Ireland

    Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month with some of the country’s most exciting street artists to brighten up the city’s streets. Commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level is the main aim of Ardú, a street art project launched late last year, supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint generously sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals, three of which are now complete, with the final wall to be finished over the coming days. First to be revealed is a depiction of the Goddess Clíodhna, by Northern Ireland based artist Friz, at St. Finbarr’s Road, Cork.Sligo born artist Friz pictured at her mural at St. Finbarr’s Road, Cork, as part of Ardú Street Project 2021.Friz’s mural is a depiction of the Goddess Clíodhna, her style was inspired by the Honan Chapel’s mosaics and Harry Clarke stained glass. Ardú continues until October 15th, with three more large scale murals by Shane O’Malley, Conor Harrington, and Asbestos. Twitter/Instagram @ArduStreetArt / Photograph by Jed NiezgodaSpeaking about her mural, Friz introduces Clíodhna, “a celtic deity who, in some stories, is the patron of Cork. She was the daughter of the sea god Manannan Mac Lir and thus is associated with the sea also. Some tales say she has three songbirds who accompany her, and when they sing it lulls people to sleep. When they wake, they are healed of any ailments they had.The Ardú team pictured at Cork’s newest mural at St. Finbarr’s Road by Sligo born artist Friz, created as part of Ardú Street Project 2021. L-R: Shane O’Driscoll, Rose-Anne Kidney, Paul Gleeson, Louise Barker, Friz, & Peter Martin.Ardú continues until October 15th, with three more large scale murals by Shane O’Malley, Conor Harrington, and Asbestos. Twitter/Instagram @ArduStreetArt / Photograph by Jed Niezgoda – www.jedniezgoda.comSome versions say the birds eat from a magical apple tree, others that Clíodhna tended to these trees. It put me in mind of Idunn’s apples from Norse mythology. It’s amazing how many of our collective stories have counterparts in other cultures. Nine apples, as that number is sometimes associated with her.She fell in love with a mortal and upon falling asleep near the shore one day her father sent a wave to carry her home. In some versions she is drowned. There is a subtle tear in her eye. She is said to be the Queen of the banshees, and I wanted to represent a small nod to that without going down a stereotypical Halloween version of a banshee.When researching, local artist and Ardú organiser Peter Martin brought the Honan chapel at UCC to my attention. It is home to some stunning Harry Clarke stained glass windows as well as a divine mosaic floor. I used Clarke’s Saint Gobnait window as inspiration for my design.”Pictured:A new mural by Dublin artist Asbestos, created for Ardú 2021, South Main Street, Cork. The giant gable end mural challenges the passerby to think about ‘What is Home?’ Do you have one, is it safe, can you afford it? Never as a country has our sense of what home means been more at threat. Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month, commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level. Supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals: Friz at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley at Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (WIP), and Asbestos at South Main Street. For more see Twitter/Instagram: @ArduStreetArtPhoto credit: Artist AsbestosIf you take a walk down from Friz’s wall, towards the city centre, you’ll find “What is home?” by Dublin artist Asbestos. The giant gable end mural challenges the passerby to think about ‘What is Home?’  Do you have one, is it safe, can you afford it? Never as a country has our sense of what home means been more at threat… “I painted this figure wearing a cardboard box on his head to start a conversation with the public about what home means to them. As a country we are currently in an existential crisis over housing and our need to put a roof over our heads. There’s a fear and uncertainty about finding a safe space, and the system seems to be stacked in favour of the landlords.Pictured:A new mural by Dublin artist Asbestos, created for Ardú 2021, South Main Street, Cork. The giant gable end mural challenges the passerby to think about ‘What is Home?’ Do you have one, is it safe, can you afford it? Never as a country has our sense of what home means been more at threat. Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month, commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level. Supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals: Friz at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley at Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (WIP), and Asbestos at South Main Street. For more see Twitter/Instagram: @ArduStreetArtPhoto credit: Artist AsbestosThe figure wearing the box is me, but a fictional version of myself who’s looking at the world with a naive viewpoint. So each of my masks, or personas is a character that’s asking a different question. In this case ‘What is Home?’ Home isn’t simply about where you were born, it’s where you feel you belong, where you feel safe, where you’re welcomed, where you can come back to and feel accepted, loved and part of a community. We seem to have lost sight of this recently because we’re so concerned about rent, mortgages or even having a home. Painted over 8 days in the sunshine and rain, it was wonderful to speak to so many curious Corkonians about the mural. The support has been amazing from the public and my friends and family here, Cork definitely felt like my home for a week.”Ardú Street Art Initiative 2021 – Shane O’Maley at his mural / Photograph by Jed Niezgoda – www.jedniezgoda.comAcross Leeside, on the Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, find the third mural by Navan-born artist Shane O’Malley. Describing his mural, Shane says:Pictured: Cyclist and passenger at Shane O’Malley new mural on the Lower Glanmire Rd, Cork, for Ardú 2021.Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month, commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level. Supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals: Friz at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley at Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (WIP), and Asbestos at South Main Street. For more see Twitter/Instagram: @ArduStreetArtPhotographer John Beasley“The mural for Ardú street art festival explores Movement. I was drawn to the way the mural is experienced. The majority of people passing the mural would only see it for about 5 seconds. It is located at a busy junction entering Cork city, where traffic flows past the wall. People also walk past the wall and cross the road using 2 pedestrian crossings while a train line passes near the wall. Ardú Street Art Initiative 2021 – Shane O’Maley at his mural / Photograph by Jed Niezgoda – www.jedniezgoda.comThe mural is made of bright coloured angular shapes and interconnected circles that follow the over-under pattern found in Celtic Knotwork. This creates dynamic flow lines throughout the wall, so the mural feels like its got movement and is in motion. I added an anamorphic circle at the corner of the wall that is experienced when passing the mural on foot or in traffic. I wanted to create a piece which is impactful and bright, that would transform the area and visually improve people’s commute to the city.”Pictured: Renowned Cork born artist Conor Harrington working on a new mural at Bishop Lucey Park, Cork, as part of Ardú 2021.Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month, commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level. Supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals: Friz at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley at Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (WIP), and Asbestos at South Main Street. For more see Twitter/Instagram: @ArduStreetArtPhoto credit John BeasleyThe fourth and final wall for Ardú 2021 is work in progress, currently being painted by Cork-born artist Conor Harrington, at Bishop Lucey Park (Grand Parade entrance). Conor will be working throughout this week, members of the public are encouraged to come and watch as his piece comes to life. Based in London since the mid 2000s, Harrington has created street art in New York, Miami, Paris, London, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Mallorca, Sao Paulo, San Juan, and the Bethlehem Wall; this is Conor’s first large-scale mural in his hometown. Pictured: Renowned Cork born artist Conor Harrington working on a new mural at Bishop Lucey Park, Cork, as part of Ardú 2021.Ardú Street Art project returned to Cork city this month, commissioning artwork from home grown talent of the highest level. Supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland, with paint sponsored by Pat McDonnell Paints.This year’s edition features four large-scale murals: Friz at St Finbarr’s Road, Shane O’Malley at Lower Glanmire Road/Horgan’s Quay, Conor Harrington at Bishop Lucey Park (WIP), and Asbestos at South Main Street. For more see Twitter/Instagram: @ArduStreetArtPhoto credit John Beasley More

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    “Giant Doll” and “Nature Morte” by Ludo in Paris, France

    Street artist Ludo just finished two murals in Paris, France. “Giant Doll” features the animatronic doll from Netflix hit series Squid Game with armed angels on both the doll’s sides. While “Nature Morte” features Ludo’s iconic imagery of and arrow + tulip hybrid shot through a skull.Most of Ludo’s work primarily focuses on the combination of nature and human technology. More specifically, he prefers to emphasize on the way society takes nature for granted. Often, we disrespect and over-exploit it- leading human control into a vast destruction. His work focuses on our surroundings and effects all while providing a form of humility. This is the basis of his work and is sure to leave one amaze at first sight.Ludo’s primarily forms of mediums used in street art are composed of silkscreen, acrylic, pencils, scalpel, tape, and printers. This is all used for wheat pasting or paste-ups. He also currently works on street installations and sculptures by re-using objects found within the streets. He is constantly active with works across Europe, using trademark monochromatic paste-ups with dripping green highlights.Check out below for more photos of the murals. More

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    Art Activations by Filthy Luker, Gabriel Pitcher, and more in Bristol, England

    New art activations have been unveiled in Bristol as part of Vanguard x TOward 2030, What Are You Doing? – an on-street project aligning art with sustainable conversation throughout the city. Artists Richt, Peace of Art, Filthy Luker, Mau Mau, Gabriel Pitcher and Paul Harfleet are the latest artists to install works across the city, each inspired by one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aligned with community action.Photo credit: Paul BoxEach artist has also partnered with a local community group to show how Bristol is localising global conversations on poverty eradication, environmental protection and societal equality. New activations will be popping up across the city throughout October. Artist duo Filthy Luker has taken over the rooftop of We The Curious, Bristol with an inflatable floral sculpture to amplify SDG15 Life on Land, in partnership with The Natural History Consortium. Photo credit: Paul BoxSavita Willmot is chief executive of The Natural History Consortium, a charitable collaboration of 14 organisations working together on a shared mission: to develop, test and disseminate best practice to engage everyone with the environment and natural world. Speaking on the collaboration with Filthy Luker, Savita noted how art is a powerful tool to spread environmental awareness:“This year city partners came together to create the first One City Ecological Emergency Strategy. Our challenge is to now bring these ideas to life across the streets of Bristol. Arts and culture are at the heart of our city, and harnessing the engaging power of art will be crucial to tackling our environmental emergencies.“Photo credit: Doug GillenGabriel Pitcher has partnered with community ambassador, The Global Goals Centre to paint a mural in St Werburgh’s, Bristol celebrating Bristol 17 hero Katie Cross, founder of Pledgeball. Pledgeball harnesses the power of football and its fans to accelerate the pursuit of global sustainability. Through affiliated clubs, it prompts fans into small lifestyle ‘pledges’ in support of their favourite team and their only planet and empowers fans by demonstrating the huge impact even small changes can make for the benefit of themselves and their environment.Photo credit: Doug GillenSpeaking on the collaboration Gabriel Pitcher said:“I’ve always been interested in exploring and documenting the stories behind the people I paint. This portrait celebrates Katie Cross, her sport and her effort to ignite that same curiosity and energy for engaging meaningfully with the conversation on climate action.”The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.The series of art activations is curated by Charlotte Pyatt and runs alongside the blockbuster exhibition Vanguard: Bristol Street Art running until 30 October at M Shed, Bristol. Photo credit: Peachy HannaCampus Pool Skatepark to celebrate the role of skate culture in fostering pathways into the creativity industries. Founded in 2011, Campus Skateparks is a not-for-profit organisation that uses the positive energy and influence of skateboarding to engage with children and young people. Through its work with different communities around Bristol, it focuses on promoting inclusivity in the skateboarding scene.Photo credit: Pete Metclaff for Fifth Wall TVMau Mau has teamed up with community partner Frank Water to reflect on our behaviour and attitude to water. His mural on Surrey St, St Pauls, also uses the Graphenstone paints and considers water as a global system and how our actions here affect water supplies across the world.The Vanguard team is made up of a collective of artists, specialists and collectors involved in the global street art movement. Their debut exhibition will be presented at Bristol Museums’ M Shed. The project is led by Mary McCarthy with creative direction from Charlotte Pyatt, art direction from Justin MacCarthy aka DICY, design direction from Graham Dews aka PARIS.Photo credit: PlasterVanguard’s Outreach and Art Interventions Partner TOward2030. What are you doing? is an award-winning cultural project conceived by Lavazza Group’s Sustainability and Communications Departments and executed in 2018/9 with the City of Turin. It strives to activate the dynamic energy of art on the streets to create a dialogue with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the host city. It aims to unite and inspire creatives and communities in a positive and meaningful way, using art as an accessible bridge to the goals. The project strives to encourage relationships between sustainability and the urban art community by fostering collaborations between cities, artists, organisations and NGOs.Check out below for more photos of the project. More

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    “Radium” by SHOK-1 in Le Locle, Switzerland

    Street artist SHOK-1 unveils his new work “Radium” in Le Locle, the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking.This piece is about the tragic story of the Radium Girls, who suffered horribly with radiation poisoning from painting watch faces back in the 20s. SHOK-1 thinks we can still learn from it today as a narrative about the misuse of science by commerce, and of profit over people.The mural is rendered in the colour of radium watch lume, as if it were the dial glowing in the dark.SHOK-1 is the pioneer of aerosol X-ray art and his unique X-ray art works can be seen on murals around the world. Blending street and science, SHOK-1 spray paints x-ray like visuals of mostly human, animal or plant-like origins. Darkly beautiful and packed with subtle layers of delicate detail, he has perfected his no tape and no stencil x-ray artworks, which are one among the most difficult subject matters a painter could attempt. As a self-taught artist who holds a degree in Applied Chemistry he aims to champions rationalism in an era where anti-intellectualism is on the rise and scientists as well as experts are denounced in favour of sub literate opinions.Check out below for more photos of “Radium”. More

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    “Ethereal” Group Exhibition at Volery Gallery in Dubai, UAE

    Ethereal is a group exhibition organised by Volery Gallery and curated by Rom Levy the gallery’s Founder and Senior Curator. The show brings together a group of prominent contemporary artists whose work portrays familiar figurations to earthly experiences; nevertheless, these sceneries are preoccupied with a different world than that of the tangible here and now.The exhibition explores the tension between the figures and the space surrounding them, creating a magnetic and out of this universe space, exploring themes of identity, humanity and subjectivity, creating a portal to a new dimension where the colours and the subjects come together to create an exquisite and enchanting world.Regardless of art’s origin or destination, it is an international language spoken by all different nations and cultures, Volery offers the viewer the space to examine a body of work that sheds light on various styles and techniques that are present in the progressing art movements and events.The exhibition will run from October 14, 2021 to November 9, 2021. Schedule your visit here.Scroll down below to have a sneak peak on Ethereal exhibition.Roby Dwi Antono, Kalya, 2021. Spraypaint on canvas; 130 x 150 cmAdriana Oliver, Stay This Time, 2021. Acrylic on linen; 100 x 100 cmAleksey and Anton Tvorogov, Bear is Gifted a Flower, 2021. Oil on canvas; 100 x 130 cm More

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    Special Limited Edition Print by Marina Capdevila

    Marina Capdevila, a muralist & painter based in Barcelona, is launching a special limited edition of 25 hand embellished prints. This print was released in celebration of the International Day of the Elderly.Every print is UNIQUE with hand painted details with oil pastel, making each piece one of a kind. 10% of the proceeds from the art sales will go to the non-governmental organization “Amics de la gent gran” to help our elderly.Giclée print and oil pastelEnhanced Matte 200g papersize: 61 x 91 cm // 24 x 35,8 ”numbered & signed by the artistWorldwide shipping: allow 10-15 days for shipping to be processed. Shop here.What inspires Marina is the beauty that doesn’t follow the usual aesthetic canons as old people, timeless characters lost in a society that they are already beginning to struggle to understand. Her muse is her grandmother. What she wants to communicate with her artworks is the desire to reach old age with full vitality. The resources of exaggeration and irony are key points in her creations, as well as a powerful color chart combined with a soft shading.Her work can be found around the world as Florida, New York, California, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and more.Check out below for more info on the limited edition print. More

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    Forbidden Fruit – James Reka

    Reka’s latest body of work peels back the layers of what it is to be human, questioning the viewer’s moral fibre and substance, teasing at notions of desire and sexuality. The Malta-based, Australian artist penned the following statement as a written exploration to accompany his finest work to-date, digging deep to ask himself, and more broadly, humanity, if they too would honestly not have been tempted by the Forbidden Fruit in the garden of Eden…‘The fruit that was forbidden in the Garden of Eden. The apple on the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. Used as a metaphor, for indulgence or pleasure, that is considered illegal or immoral. The human condition is one bound by an almost limitless scale of opportunity and stimuli. We live in a world of relentless temptation, where the primary drivers of life; hunger, safety and passion, are intertwined in a morally defined structure of our everyday existence – we are constantly responding to these urges and drives, as our actions create an eternal juxtaposition, between satisfying the primal needs of life, enjoying the fruits of our existence and the balance of morality.’‘This exhibition, represents a broadening of my aesthetic, reaffirming the dichotomy between morality and sin. In this language, my work provides an account of the reaction that has long governed discussion on tasting the Forbidden Fruit.  Consideration of our mortality plunges us into the rediscovery of self and paradoxically, into facing challenges of self, sometimes threatening, in the presence of sincere and pure truths. Uncontrollable urges abound where all is only sin and temptation. These primal forces bring forth all the complexity of human relations, where sex and seduction, attraction and desire, degradation, and self-destruction, all symbolise tasting the “Forbidden fruit”.’‘This exhibition explores the theme of desire and the underlining flawed nature of mankind, the realisation that we are not perfect nor exempt from falling for temptation. One of the humanistic, defining elements of Homo Sapiens, at least in our societal lives, is the balance between desire and morality. Many of us, understand that we always want, what we can’t have. I have sought here to relate the Primal urges that lead us to instinctively explore oneself and one’s surroundings, the eternal catalyst of discovery and pleasure that leads us into temptation.’‘Thus, I have drawn from the metaphorical ‘Forbidden Fruit’ references that abound in scriptures and texts, from the book of Genesis. It is the fruit that was forbidden to Adam and Eve, the battle between good and evil that overcame the Garden of Eden, the same battle that subsumes our modern lives.’‘My exhibition and the evolution of the forms within, invites the viewer to challenge themselves and ask – “Would I really not have tasted the forbidden fruit?”.’‘Too easily, one can assure oneself that you would resist temptation if challenged ! However, how many times a day do you jeopardise your own “salvation”?  After all, the breadth of “sins” we commit daily threatens the pathway to our potential paradise and we risk the fate of banishment that was wrought upon Adam & Eve.’‘The representation of the Apple is a critical symbol, a metaphorical device that alludes to sinful or forbidden pleasure.Core to this body of work, is my new life in Malta, where I have been inspired by the ancient Neolithic Maltese history and culture, tracing back to pre 5000BC. My exploration of the ancient temples scattered across the islands has been a noticeable influence of my work for this exhibition. Symbology, the sacred geometry of the megalithic structures and the natural colours and soft light of the Mediterranean, have been referenced in the series of canvases.’‘My representations of the figures in the larger canvases have also been inspired by the large-bodied female “mother-figure” statues, that once were residents of the ancient temples of this historical landscape. Simultaneously I have chosen to explore new textures, mimicking the limestone grain within which these megalithic structures are created.Departing from the norms of figurative painting, this exhibition depicts a series of Still Life canvas-works, focusing on the contrast of sliced fruit and sexual organs, overlaid with abstract elements of the human form. This is an abstracted composition of organic life, inviting the viewer to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between Mankind & Nature.’‘In addition, to accompany this series I have been working on large-scale landscape sceneries, depicting an abstract view of a “Garden of Eden” – with reclining nudes portrayed in frivolous acts. These also incorporate symbols of nature and in this Eden setting I have used a richer colour palate, referencing the fruits and colours of the Mediterranean.I am also excited to include in this exhibition, a small series of sculptures, that generate a balance between the scale of the humanistic large canvas works and the more accessible. This is an exhibition for all the senses!’‘Experience the temptation of ‘Forbidden Fruit’ at Backwoods Gallery from Friday September 17th to 3rd October 2021, in my hometown Melbourne.’ – James Reka, 2021FORBIDDEN FRUIT by JAMES REKA is online now at Backwoods Gallery More

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    Tokyo International Art Fair 2021

    In a little over a week, the doors will open to Tokyo’s most exciting art fair.  The Tokyo International Art Fair, now in its sixth successful year, will be making a welcome come-back to the city on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October, bringing hundreds of inspiring artists and thousands of visitors to Tokyo’s vibrant art scene.Set in the stylish Belle Salle exhibition hall in Roppongi, just a stone’s throw from the Mori Art Museum in the affluent Roppongi Hills, the free to attend two day art fair sees leading artists not just from Japan but from 25 other countries across the globe, converging on the capital for a celebration of contemporary art.What is unique about the art fair is that it offers the chance for artists and galleries to show and sell their work directly to art lovers and collectors, with no fees for buying or selling. Art lovers, whether seasoned collectors or those just starting on their journey into art, can pick out a piece to add to or start their collection from thousands of incredible pieces on display.There will also be a newly integrated Digital and Virtual art section at the sixth edition of the fair, selling artworks from international artists through the new Tokyo Online Art Gallery.  This has its own booth complete with innovative technology allowing the visitor to buy art online as well as read more about the international artists. Among the artworks on show will be original paintings, sculptures, photography, illustrations, jewellery and much more, as well as the chance to commission art directly from the artists.For Curator Gena Sasaki Johns of the award-winning Global Art Agency, this year’s Toyko International Art Fair holds particular significance. “We are hugely excited to be back in Tokyo and to open the doors to one of the city’s biggest and best art fairs,” says Gena. “The quality of artworks is exceptional, with carefully selected artists and galleries from across Europe, the United States, Australia and Japan filling the event with vibrancy and colour.“We can’t wait to experience the buzz of artists and visitors talking, appreciating and of course, buying and selling art. Don’t miss it,” she says.Among the incredible work on display will be pieces from the following featured artists: Menucha Page (Jerusalem), Naun Park (Korea), Vincenzo Coronati & Gentaro Yokoyama (Italy, Japan), Agnes Lui (Hong Kong), Alissa Chapman (New York, Marco Riha (Austria), Pia Kintrup (Germany), Mimi Revencu (Romania), Xana Abreu (Portugal), Johnny Duncan (USA), Nicole Rafiki (DRC).Tokyo International Art Fair opens in style on Friday 8th October with a VIP reception and sneak preview of the artworks on display, plus the first chance to purchase directly from the artist.  Reception from 18.00pm – 21.00pm. Tickets cost ¥ 2500 JPY ($ 20 USD) and can be booked at https://www.tokyoartfair.com/tickets.  The fair continues on Saturday 9th October from 11.00am – 18.00pm and entry is FREE. The Outstanding Artist Awards will take place on Saturday at 17.30pm.Tokyo International Art Fair takes place at Belle Salle Roppongi, Japan, 〒106-0032 Tokyo, Minato, Roppongi, 7 Chome−18−18, 住友不動産六本木通ビル More information is at https://www.tokyoartfair.com/ More