about art on
Art, closer to everyday life.
Artists, closer to you.
Blockbuster exhibitions draw long queues, and the number of galleries and art fairs handling contemporary art keeps growing. Looking at art has never been this easy.
Buying a work and living with it, though — the culture of collecting — has yet to take root. Prices, an artist’s career, art-historical knowledge, the gallery as a space. The moment art turns from something you look at into something you own, it can start to feel a little difficult.
But art is meant to be far freer than that. “I just like it.” “I want this piece in my home.” “I want to know more about this artist.” A relationship with art can begin from feelings as simple as those.
art on is a web magazine devoted to making contemporary art feel closer.
Artists, exhibitions, art fairs at home and abroad, and the pleasure of collecting works. We report what only becomes visible once you actually turn up in person — as plainly and as lightly as we can.
“The way you might wander into a museum.”
“The way you might drop by a gallery.”
“The way you might happen upon a single work.”
From 2017 to 2026 we carried that wish in the name “bur@rt press.”
Our name today is art on. We will go on recording the moment art switches on.
Editor-in-Chief
Mahiro Kobayashi — Editor-in-Chief, art on
An art collector and gallerist working between Tokyo and Karuizawa.
In 2021 he founded biscuit gallery, a commercial gallery for contemporary art, where he plans and runs exhibitions with a roster centred on emerging artists. He has faced art from both sides: the side that sells, and the side that buys.
The appeal of contemporary art does not lie in the works alone. You meet an artist living in the same era, and learn first-hand what kind of environment they work in and what they are thinking as they make. Seen from there, art that once felt difficult suddenly becomes your own.
Knowing the background, or falling for a work on pure instinct with no knowledge at all — both are ways to enjoy art. Not searching for the right answer, but meeting works through your own senses. And widening, even a little, the space in which fine artists are fairly valued for their work and their practice. That is why we run art on.
Social
Instagram: @kobayashi_biscuit
X (Twitter): @burart_jp
Facebook: @burart.jp
About this publication
Our editorial principles, submission guidelines and corrections policy are set out on separate pages.
Editorial Policy — reporting principles, ownership and conflicts of interest, advertising, use of AI
For Press — where to send exhibition information and press releases, and what we need
Corrections — how we handle errors, and where to tell us
Publisher Information — company, representative, address