"Fortune or fate, let the final curtain fall without regret"

GALLERY ROOM・A, a commercial gallery operated by the art communication platform ArtSticker, will host a solo exhibition of new works by artist Nanari Sakamoto, entitled “And They Lived Happily Ever After”, from Saturday, 30 May 2026.

This exhibition marks Sakamoto’s final solo presentation in Japan before studying abroad, representing a significant turning point in the artist’s practice.

Sakamoto creates paintings that re-examine socially constructed images of “happiness” and “love,” drawing inspiration from iconic characters found in the fictional worlds of film and theatre. Colourful and theatrical canvases depict figures reminiscent of cinematic protagonists and stage-like environments, where reality and fantasy, longing and subtle dissonance intersect.

For the artist, painting functions not merely as the consumption of an idealised self-image, but as an act of affirmation—transforming imagination into material form as a way of navigating lived reality.

In this exhibition, taking the concept of the ‘happy ending’—symbolised by the film endings depicted in earlier works—as a starting point, the artist delves more deeply into an inner perspective.

While maintaining the theme of ‘the intersection of fiction and reality’—a central concern within the artist’s practice—the exhibition marks the first exploration of more personal yet universal questions surrounding love and marriage, presented by society as ‘packaged happiness’. The image of ‘happiness’, previously depicted as an external narrative or assigned role, is here transformed into a subject shaped by lived experience and internal conflict. The distance and dissonance that emerge between happiness as an ideal and the reality experienced by individuals are articulated through a more poignant perspective.

Visitors are invited to encounter an exhibition that employs cinematic imagery to reconsider contemporary understandings of love and the self.

Size: H 227.3 cm x W 486 cm x D 5 cm

Material: acrylic and oil on canvas

Production year: 2025

Edition: unique

Framing: none

Work certificate: ◯

Sign: ◯

Sales period: 2026/6/28 (Sun) until 23:00 [first-come-first-served basis]

KAIKA TOKYO AWARD Exhibited
Arts* This work is scheduled to be shipped about 1 to 1 month and a half after the KAIKA TOKOYO AWARD 2026 exhibition period ends (2028/3).

This work will be on view at GALLERY ROOM A, a commercial gallery in Asakusa, as part of the solo exhibition “I Lived Happily Ever After,” held from May 30th (Sat) to June 28th (Sun), 2026.

Nanary Sakamoto's New Solo Exhibition “I Lived Happily Ever After”

Dates

(Thu) May 30th, 2026 - (Sun) June 28th, 2026

Hours
8:00 - 23:00

Closed

Open every day during the exhibition(Open on public holidays)

Admission
Free

Venue
GALLERY ROOM A

Address

2-16-5 Honjo, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0004 KAIKA TOKYO by THE SHARE HOTELS 1F STORAGE 1

Access

8 minutes on foot from “Asakusa Station” on the Toei Asakusa Line

9 minutes on foot from “Honjo Azumabashi Station” on the Toei Asakusa Line

9 minutes on foot from “Kuramae Station” on the Toei Oedo Line

Website

https://www.thesharehotels.com/kaika/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/galleryrooma_artsticker