Ace Hotel Kyoto celebrated its first anniversary on June 11, 2021. To commemorate this occasion, works by Yu Nagaba, an artist with ties to Ace Hotel, will be on display in the hotel's first-floor gallery space until June 30 (Wednesday).

To commemorate the first anniversary of Ace Hotel Kyoto's opening, six original works by artist Yu Nagaba will be exhibited until June 30, 2021 (Wednesday). Born in Tokyo in 1976, Nagaba graduated from the Design Department at Zokei University of Art and Design. He has since worked across various fields, including magazines, books, and advertising, in addition to his artistic endeavors. He has also collaborated with apparel brands such as Uniqlo and Beams.

Nagaba has previously used Ace Hotel's memo pads in his own artwork. For this exhibition, four of the 49 works he created on memo pads, inspired by the people and things he encountered during his stay at Ace Hotel Kyoto, have been transformed into canvas paintings for display.

Regarding the exhibition, Nagaba stated, "I had hoped to do something since I first heard rumors of Ace Hotel coming to Kyoto, so while I was happy about this project, I found myself running out of time without any clear ideas on how to approach the exhibition or what to depict. In the end, I decided to seek inspiration by traveling to Kyoto and staying at the Ace Hotel. As I walked through the city and spent time at the hotel, I decided to draw motifs from the things that caught my eye, the images that came to mind, and the memories that resurfaced during my time here. I created a total of 49 works on memo pads, and from those, I selected six favorites to paint on canvas. I hope that through these works, viewers can experience a sense of my time in Kyoto and the impressions I gathered here."