From protest icon to actor, painter and cultural agitator, Shigeru Izumiya has never been easily defined. A fixture of Japan’s creative underground since the 1970s, Izumiya first emerged as a rebellious folk singer before expanding into television, film and visual art. Now, at age 77, he returns with his Cyberpunk Exhibition, a bold new solo show curated by Yasumasa Yonehara at The Gallery Omotesando.
Running from May 16 to June 15, the exhibition unveils Izumiya’s long-gestating cyberpunk vision – a world of chaos, rebellion and emotional intensity rendered in raw, uncompromising brushwork. At its heart is the debut of Rolling Thunder, Izumiya’s debut cyberpunk manga, steeped in the dystopian anxieties of AI, surveillance and fractured humanity.
Reflecting a career-long refusal to conform, Izumiya’s art rejects aesthetic polish in favour of visceral urgency. His canvases, like his music, bristle with defiance, giving voice to those left behind in a hyper-technological world. The exhibition will also feature weekend talk-and-live sessions with Yonehara, offering deeper insights into Izumiya’s process and provocations.
