E’wao Kagoshima

NADA New York 2026: TD Spotlight

Booth D7

May 13—17, 2026

Starrett-Lehigh Building, 601 W 26th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10001

Born in September 1945 in Niigata, Japan, immediately after the end of WWII, Kagoshima grew up in Tokyo. He trained in the metalwork division at Tokyo University of the Arts in the late 1960s—a background that continues to inform the sculptural sensitivity evident even in his two-dimensional works. In many ways, his studio practice is largely self-taught. Facing family opposition to pursuing fine art, Kagoshima enrolled in the prestigious national art school to acquire technical skills in metal casting and jewelry making. After earning his BFA in metalwork and a brief stint working in advertising, he moved to New York in 1976 to pursue a career as an artist.

While Kagoshima’s practice spans several decades, his work is only now receiving renewed visibility and critical attention, positioning him within a broader contemporary discourse. He practices a broad range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, and collage, combining rigorous material exploration with a quietly radical approach to form and surface. He often creates his works by accumulating layers of surfaces, objects, and/or figures, privileging duration, tactility, and nuance over immediate legibility.

Ulterior Gallery and E’wao Kagoshima are pleased to participate in the TD Bank Curated Spotlight, selected by Anthony Elms, Artistic Director of the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh. Our presentation brings together works spanning nearly four decades, from 1980 through 2017. They all reflect the artist’s thoughts of life of that time. A group of collage works were produced in his West Village apartment in 1980–81, reflecting his early aspirations to expand his practice within New York’s art culture and visual vocabulary. Two drawings were created for and exhibited as part of the New Museum’s inaugural WorkSpace series in 1983, curated by Lynn Gumpert. His later works from the 2000s and 2010s demonstrate his continued commitment to material experimentation and image-making.

The NADA presentation of E’wao Kagoshima coincides with his solo exhibition, Deconstructed Bodies, on view through June 6, 2026, at Ulterior Gallery in New York.

E'wao Kagoshima (b. 1945) is a Japanese-born, New York-based artist whose practice encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing, and collage. He has presented solo exhibitions at Nagai Gallery, Tokyo (1976); the New Museum, New York (1983); Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York (1997, 2008); Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich (2016); The Box, Los Angeles (2018); Greenspon Gallery, New York (2018); and Ulterior Gallery, New York (2026). His works have been featured in exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1982); White Columns, New York (2011); SculptureCenter, New York (2013); the Jewish Museum, New York (2014); the Baltic Triennial at the Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2018); and MoMA PS1, New York (2021). Most recently, in 2025 he was given a retrospective at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), New York. His works are in the collections of the Asian American Art Centre, New York; the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Los Angeles; the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey; and the Zuzeum Art Centre, Riga.

Press

Qingyuan Deng. “How Are We Doing? Top 5 Booths from New York’s Spring Art Week.” Whitehot Magazine, May 16, 2026.

Paul Laster. “Discover 5 Standout Talents at New York’s Satellite Art Fairs.” Galerie Magazine, May 15, 2026