In October 2026, Takeshi Ikeda will present his solo exhibition “TIME WORN — 時間を纏う” at the Art Gallery on the 6th floor of the Isetan Shinjuku Main Building. During the same period, approximately eight works from his series, created by reconstructing wooden cigar boxes, will be exhibited and offered for sale at Cigar Club Tokyo in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo.“Bringing the Memory of Cigars into the Bar” Contemporary Artist Takeshi Ikeda Re-edits Cigar Culture through “Cigar Ribbons”

《Order in the Golden Silence》（黄金の静寂に宿る秩序）2026, 1,303 × 894 mm, Cigar Ribbon, Copper Rivet © Takeshi Ikeda

A “cigar ribbon” is the small band wrapped around a cigar, printed with a brand name, crest, and other identifying imagery. Once removed from the cigar, it has fulfilled its original purpose and is usually discarded. Contemporary artist Takeshi Ikeda, based in Tokyo, collects these ribbons, dismantles them, and re-edits them into new structures. Using cigar ribbons, wooden cigar boxes, copper rivets, gold thread, and other materials, Ikeda creates two-dimensional works, sculptures, and installations. In October 2026, he will present new works in a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery on the 6th floor of the Isetan Shinjuku Main Building in Tokyo. Ikeda is also developing a new initiative to introduce his works in cigar bars, hotel bars, lounges, and other venues throughout Japan.

Cigar ribbons condense the history and identity that each brand has built over many years through its name, crest, place of origin, typography, and colors. Ikeda does not treat them as mere decorative materials. He dismantles, cuts, weaves, and layers the ribbons, connecting fragments from different brands. He then incorporates copper rivets, gold thread, and wooden cigar boxes that have completed their original function, creating new structures through grids, circles, and repetition. Rather than simply assembling discarded materials, this process can be understood as an act of editing — a way of rereading fragmented histories and cultures. While retaining traces of the distinctive meaning once carried by each ribbon, Ikeda places them into new relationships, reconstructing them as a single work that transcends the boundaries of individual brands.

Before a cigar is made and circulated around the world as a brand, it accumulates layers of time shaped by land, agriculture, craftsmanship, labor, trade, capital, systems, advertising, and cigar aficionados. What we ordinarily recognize as a single brand is, in reality, supported by the work and memories of countless people. Ikeda’s works bring to the surface the history, trade, labor, and cultural memory that lie behind this refined exterior. What remains in the work is not only the ribbon removed from a cigar. Invisible personal memories — time spent with a cigar, conversations with others, memories of travel, and the atmosphere of a bar — are also layered into the work.

《BUJI》（無事） 2022, 3,000 × 3,000 mm, Cigar Ribbon Collection of the Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art (Havana, Cuba) © Takeshi Ikeda

Ikeda’s work also has a deep connection with Cuba, an important source of cigar culture. In 2022, he participated in the 14th Havana Biennial, where he presented the three-meter-square work 《BUJI》. His work is held in the collection of the Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art in Havana, Cuba. Named after Wifredo Lam, one of Cuba’s leading artists, the center is a cultural institution that has presented Cuban contemporary art to audiences both in Cuba and abroad, including through the Havana Biennial. For Ikeda, who has continued to create work rooted in cigars, the inclusion of his work in a Cuban contemporary art institution represents an important connection between his work and the cultural origins of its materials. His works are also held by private collectors in Japan and abroad, including businesspeople in Hong Kong and Japan.

2025 (Hong Kong) Photo courtesy of the private collection Cesar Jazz Club (Havana, Cuba) 《Cartography of Ceremony – Prayers in Structure》（儀式の地図学 — 構造に宿る祈り）2025, 5,000 × 900 mm, Cigar Ribbon, Gold Thread Permanent installation at Cesar Jazz Club (Havana, Cuba)

Cesar Jazz Club in Havana is also home to a permanent installation of 《Cartography of Ceremony – Prayers in Structure》, a work measuring approximately five meters in length. Constructed from countless cigar ribbons, the piece encounters visitors from around the world each day within a space where music, drinks, food, and conversation intersect. The presence of the work outside the white walls of museums and galleries, in a place where music and social exchange are part of everyday life, is emblematic of Ikeda’s broader practice.

In January 2026, Ikeda participated in a Don Julio exhibition project held in Niseko, Hokkaido, presenting four works in total, including cigar-ribbon works and cigar-box works. In this international resort destination visited by travelers from around the world, his works were presented in a setting where art coexists with drinking, dining, and the culture of hospitality.

《Ancient Capital》（古都）2022, 803 × 652 mm, Cigar Ribbon, Gold Thread, Copper Rivet Permanent installation at Cigar Bar Gion SUI (Gion, Kyoto) © Takeshi Ikeda

Ikeda’s works are not intended to exist only within the white-cube spaces of museums and galleries. A cigar bar — where a cigar is selected, lit, and time passes slowly with the smoke — is also a place directly connected to the culture from which these works emerged. Visitors do not necessarily enter a bar intending to encounter art. Yet while raising a glass at the counter and smoking a cigar, they may notice the ribbon of a familiar brand within the work. That recognition can bring back memories of a cigar once enjoyed, time spent with someone, or a landscape encountered while traveling, and a dialogue with the work begins. Ikeda sees great potential in these chance encounters, distinct from the experience of viewing art in museums and galleries.

“I believe cigar bars are not simply places that serve drinks and cigars; they are also places where culture and memory are passed on. I hope viewers will recognize a brand used in one of my works and, from that point, remember a cigar they once smoked or time spent with someone. Perhaps a work is only truly completed when it connects with that person’s own memories. Together with cigar bars throughout Japan, I would like to create new forms of exhibition that carry cigar culture into the future.”

<Blocks> series scheduled to be shown at the solo exhibition at Isetan Shinjuku Cigar Box, Cigar Ribbon, Gold Thread, Copper Rivet © Takeshi Ikeda

In October 2026, Takeshi Ikeda will present a solo exhibition of new works at the Art Gallery on the 6th floor of the Isetan Shinjuku Main Building. The exhibition will center on two-dimensional works made with cigar ribbons, alongside cigar-box works and sculptural pieces created by reconstructing actual wooden cigar boxes. The history accumulated by brands over long periods of time, the memory of cigar culture, the labor of craftspeople, and relationships between people are dismantled into fragments and re-edited into a new order. Ikeda’s works will be presented in the art gallery of one of Tokyo’s most iconic department stores.

During the same period as the October 2026 solo exhibition at Isetan Shinjuku, approximately eight works from the <Blocks> series, created by reconstructing wooden cigar boxes, will be exhibited and offered for sale at Cigar Club Tokyo in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo.

The project will present Ikeda’s works simultaneously in two very different settings: the art-gallery environment of Isetan Shinjuku and a cigar club where cigars are actually enjoyed.

The <Blocks> series is created by dismantling and reconstructing wooden boxes that once held cigars and have completed their original function. While retaining the memory of cigar culture within the material itself, the boxes are transformed into new sculptural works. By returning these works to the cultural context of a cigar bar, Ikeda proposes a new relationship between contemporary art and cigar culture.

Permanent installation view at Cigar Club Tokyo (Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo)

Ahead of Ikeda’s solo exhibition at Isetan Shinjuku in October 2026, inquiries are now being accepted from cigar bars, cigar clubs, hotel bars, lounges, restaurants, and other venues across Japan interested in exhibiting or handling his works. Depending on the scale and interior design of each venue, proposals can include canvas works made with cigar ribbons as well as smaller sculptural works reconstructed from actual wooden cigar boxes. Permanent installations, limited-time exhibitions, collaborations with in-house events, and artwork sales can all be considered in consultation with each venue. Rather than simply placing works on a wall, Ikeda seeks to develop exhibition methods suited to each location by taking into account the cigar brands it carries, the history of the space, its interior, and its clientele. The initiative positions cigar bars not only as places where artworks may be sold, but as cultural spaces that preserve the memory of cigar culture and carry it forward to the next generation.

Dates	October 7 (Wed) – October 13 (Tue), 2026
Hours	10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (until 4:00 p.m. on the final day)
Artist Attendance	Takeshi Ikeda is scheduled to be present throughout the exhibition period
Venue	Art Gallery, 6th Floor, Isetan Shinjuku Main Building
Works on View	Two-dimensional cigar-ribbon works, cigar-box works, sculptures, and more
Planning / Cooperation	JPS Gallery

池田 健 / Takeshi Ikeda
Born in 1979, Takeshi Ikeda is a Tokyo-based contemporary artist. He dismantles and reconstructs materials that carry historical and cultural backgrounds — including cigar ribbons, wooden cigar boxes, copper rivets, and gold thread — to create two-dimensional works, sculptures, and installations. His work is held in the collection of the Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art in Havana, Cuba. A work approximately five meters in length is permanently installed at Cesar Jazz Club in Havana, while other permanent installations can be found at Cigar Club Tokyo in Nishi-Azabu, Bar Panacee in Ebisu, and Cigar Bar SUI in Gion, among other locations. Ikeda is represented by JPS Gallery.

Takeshi Ikeda (池田 健)
E-mail: ikedat0620@gmail.com
Instagram: @takeshy620
Artist Information: https://jpsgallery.com/artist/takeshi-ikeda/