SOM GALLERY is delighted to announce "Jiraishin Exhibition ~Seeking the Point Where Manga and Painting Intersect~", a solo exhibition by Tsutomu Takahashi on view from July 11 to August 3. This exhibition centers on Jiraishin, the debut work of Tsutomu Takahashi, who has published numerous manga throughout his career. Alongside original black-and-white and color original ones from Jiraishin, the show will also feature newly created works and original drawings from some of Takahashi’s most iconic series, including Skyhigh, BAKUON RETTOU, and SIDOOH.

Tsutomu Takahashi is a manga artist born in 1965 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. He made his debut in 1989 with the one-shot work “Jiraishin”, published in Morning (KODANSHA), and has since gone on to serialize numerous popular works with major publishers, including Big Comic (SHOGAKUKAN), Afternoon (KODANSHA), and Weekly Young Jump (SHUEISHA). Takahashi’s works are distinguished by his unique touch and meticulous storytelling, often evoking the chilling stylishness of film noir. Employing thick brush-pen lines, bold black fills, ink-wash shading, and intricate ballpoint pen detailing, he brings a sense of immediacy, dynamism, and spontaneity to his pages. This distinctive approach sets him apart from other manga artists, allowing him to cultivate a singular and immersive visual world. His major works include Jiraishin, Skyhigh, BAKUON RETTOU, and SIDOOH. He is currently serializing JUMBO MAX in Big Comic and GUITAR SHOP ROSIE in Big Comic Zoukan.

The centerpiece of this exhibition, Jiraishin, is a hard-boiled work that follows the protagonist, Kyōya Iida, as he investigates a series of bizarre crimes. Through these cases, the story delves into the darkness of the human psyche and the distortions of the society that give rise to it. With its unflinching exploration of human nature and social contradiction, Jiraishin is marked by its in-depth portrayals of criminal minds and its distinctive, atmospheric worldview.

This exhibition seeks not only to engage with the current position of manga within the field of art, but also to explore its future potential from an artistic perspective. For a long time, manga has been excluded from the discourse of “Art.” Its characteristics—mass-produced printed matter, narrative-driven content, commercial orientation, and its format as a bundle of pages—have set it apart from painting and photography, keeping it at a distance from the institutional frameworks of fine art. However, we must ask: is manga truly incapable of being art? 

Manga possesses a distinct authorial presence—one that resonates with the kind of artistic identity often celebrated in the history of visual art. The idiosyncrasies of linework, the pacing of panels, the composition of backgrounds, the guidance of the viewer’s gaze—all reflect a complex and deliberate mode of thinking developed through the medium of the page. Its richness as a visual language and its formal capacity to reconfigure time and space intersect with many of the concerns long explored in contemporary art.

This exhibition is not an attempt to “legitimize” manga as art. Rather, it seeks to reexamine the very nature of art and the dynamics of the institutions that define it—viewed from the perspective of manga as a medium. The works on display represent Tsutomu Takahashi’s artistic practice: one that draws on the grammar of manga while moving beyond narrative and character, to confront the line itself, and the structure of the page. What emerges is a visual mode of thought, fermented outside the bounds of the art system—an accumulation that questions the very boundary between what is considered inside and outside of art.

Manga holds a latent potential to redefine the meaning of art. Just as photography once reshaped art through the so-called “death of the aura,” manga, too, may come to rupture the system from its farthest edge—as a new frontier in what art can be.

An opening reception attended by the artist will be held on Friday, July 11th 19:00-21:00 at SOM GALLERY.
We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition.