VENUES

NANZUKA UNDERGROUND is a contemporary art gallery that was founded in 2005 in Shibuya, Tokyo, as an experimental space dedicated to redefining the creativities in design, illustration, street culture, fashion, music, etc. as academic subjects. The gallery simultaneously aims to rediscover artists such as Keiichi Tanaami, Hajime Sorayama, Harumi Yamaguchi, and Toshio Saeki, who had not been considered “fine” artists in the art world that developed after World War II. NANZUKA UNDERGROUND also collaborates with many international galleries to support emerging Japanese artists in the international art scene, including Hiroki Tsukuda, Ryuichi Ohira, Makoto Taniguchi, Masato Mori, and Haroshi. Similarly, the gallery works with selected international artists to present contemporary art’s global perspectives in Japan.

NANZUKA UNDERGROUND will present an exhibition of works by Lagos-based Nigerian artist Wahab Saheed, marking his first solo show in Japan.

Saheed was born in 1998 and attended the Yaba College of Technology, where he earned his National Diploma (general art) in 2016 and a Higher National Diploma (painting) in 2019. Passionate about creating expressive works, Saheed explores freedom and what it allows to make statements about the world which he and his subjects occupy.

Saheed’s works are characterized by the use of emphatic mark making and dark values executed in charcoals, with backgrounds painted in bright and cheerful colors, serving as a contrast to the emotive and fragile subject matters. Through this he seeks to question the human psychological condition, capturing key events that compose the essentials of humanity.