Last week the Avant Arte team and I went to KunstRAI which is the biggest contemporary art fair here in Amsterdam. The theme this time was ‘focus Japan’ and there were some great works by Japanese artists like Takeru Amano, Ayako Rokkaku, Hime and even a little Nara. Some other familiar faces were artists Willem Hoeffnagel, Detlef Waschkau and Peer Vink who all had some great pieces on display.

New artists that really stood out to me were Kihara Chiharu (https://www.instagram.com/chiharu_kihara) whose great brushwork you see in the small Einstein portrait and Ken Yashiki (https://www.instagram.com/yashiki_ken) who uses the unique Japanese method of kimekomi for his textile works.

Which of these artists are you keeping an eye on? 👀

From far away it didnt look like woodwork at all, really impressive! 

I liked Qiangli Liang's still life and Anne van As' landscape works, outside of the usual big names