aaploit is pleased to present “225,000 Carat Diamond,” a solo exhibition by Kumagae Yuna, opening January 16 (Friday) through February 1 (Sunday), 2026.
Exhibition Concept
At the foundation of Kumagae Yuna’s practice lies a perspective that places objects whose value is exaggerated—like diamonds—on the same plane as things discarded and forgotten. Empty boxes, used containers, and other materials socially designated as “worthless” are treated by Kumagae as equivalent to luxurious objects, prompting us to reconsider the oscillations between beauty and violence, aspiration and indifference that exist within them.
This approach functions as a quiet resistance against hierarchies of value and social stigma surrounding ornamental aesthetics. By engaging with these materials, Kumagae attempts to reconstruct the relationship between body and world from microscopic units. The act of painting is understood as a process through which the contours of self-image and emotion are generated, where the time of daily life and the time of making dissolve into each other. Ambiguous forms touch the layers of sensation inscribed in the viewer’s body, reflecting back the structure of experience.
Artistic Practice
In Kumagae’s own words:
15cm high heels serve no purpose.
But I wear them anyway.
I want a humidifier more than Tiffany.
The girls working hard at laser treatments and hair removal, wearing glittering dresses—they haven’t bathed either.
Unnecessary items I’ve kept collecting—empty cigarette boxes, avocado seeds, empty contact lens cases.
I want to gently hold the pain and complexes that exist on the other side of correctness, and look at myself and you (the world).
Perfume on the back of my hand, glitter for a deserted island, roses for you.
As these words suggest, Kumagae’s work can be understood as an attempt to critically visualize the multiple layers of contemporary norms around femininity, decoration, body, and self-management by minimizing the scale of objects.
While luxury brand logos and the sparkle of jewelry appear on canvas, “materials stripped of value”—boxes given by friends or cigarette packages left after her own consumption—are used as supports. Motifs such as female figures, skulls, and crosses painted on these surfaces expose the points where the image of self intersects with social norms and painterly tradition, making painting function as a device that questions the relationship between signs and body, exceeding its role as merely a “vessel for personal experience.”
The phrase “no pain no life,” which repeatedly appears in Kumagae’s work, indicates the connection between pain and paint, emphasizing that physical and psychological experience cannot be separated from the act of making. Moreover, as images of lips, snakes, crosses, and other motifs are fired and rise up as ceramic fragments, painted lines are transformed from mere traces on a flat surface into “images with tactility” that can be worn on the body. Through this, the works carry the possibility of existing not only in the space of viewing but as extensions of the body itself.
Exhibition Title
The exhibition title “225,000 carat diamond” is the artist’s own body weight converted into carats. By converting into numerical value the social logic that assigns worth to bodies—particularly the gaze that has objectified and managed women’s bodies as value—Kumagae critically exposes it. Here, “the value of a jewel” and “the weight of a body” are placed side by side in the same unit, clarifying the arbitrariness and violence inherent in systems of value.
Exhibition Details
225,000 Carat Diamond
Artist: Kumagae Yuna
Dates: January 16 (Friday) – February 1 (Sunday), 2026
Hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday 13:00-18:00
*Private appointments available on weekdays
Venue: aaploit TMK Building 2F, 1-21-17 Sekiguchi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
Inquiries: info@aaploit.com
Kumagae Yuna (くまがえ ゆうな)
Born 2002, Fukuoka Prefecture
Education
2025
BFA, Oil Painting, Department of Painting, Tama Art University
Selected Exhibitions / Fairs
2025
“INCHON Art Show 2025,” Songdo Convensia, Incheon, South Korea
2024
“ARTBAY TOKYO ART FESTIVAL 2024,” Odaiba, Tokyo
2023
“Art Wonderland,” Sogo Yokohama, Kanagawa
“Femelo vol.2,” MIYASHITA PARK, Tokyo
“To Those Who Won’t Be Here in 100 Years—This Fiction Is Still Just an Extension of Reality,” Nezu Hello Bee, Tokyo
“ART STUDENTS STARS Vol.2,” Shibuya Tokyu Plaza, Tokyo
“SHIBUYA STYLE vol.17,” Seibu Shibuya, Tokyo
2021
“3331 ART FAIR 2021,” 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo