Detail: March 19 – April 3, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 5-8pm

We are delighted to announce a special event celebrating Asia Week NY, New York’s annual festival of Asian art. KOGEI Exhibition: Metalwork and Lacquerware—featuring works by leading Japanese artists including several designated as “Living National Treasures”—will be on view from March 19 to April 3, 2026.

KOGEI Exhibition: Metalwork and Lacquerware not only presents contemporary masterpieces shaped by centuries of tradition but also serves as the curtain-raiser for a major exhibition project scheduled to tour leading U.S. museums from 2027.

Visitors to our Upper East Side gallery in the historic Sidney Ripley mansion on 79th Street will encounter an extraordinary display of works by masters of two of Japan’s most distinctive craft disciplines.

Metalwork specialists transform gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and unique Japanese alloys through techniques such as casting, chiseling, hammering, and overlay. Bending hard, unyielding materials to their creative will, they produce masterworks of unequaled grace and refinement.

Equally compelling are the lacquerware pieces, born from the artistic potential of urushi, the sap of the lacquer tree. Contemporary lacquer artists work with delicately carved bases of paulownia, cherrywood, cypress, and other timbers, patiently applying, drying, and polishing multiple layers of lacquer. These lustrous surfaces become canvases for decoration in precious metals and shell, marrying natural beauty with meticulous craftsmanship.

Both groups of artists share an unwavering commitment to traditional skills and materials, coupled with a bold spirit of innovation—qualities that define the essence of KOGEI, a uniquely Japanese phenomenon occupying a distinctive position at the intersection of “Craft” and “Art” in the Western tradition.