OK VOU ! An exhibit by OK DES PARIS at VOU/ 棒, Kyoto

The exhibition explores the formal and intuitive correspondences between drawing, printmaking, artist’s books, and painting, in a space where mediums engage in dialogue without hierarchy. Nourished by outsider art, fanzine culture, graphic design, and abstract painting, the artists develop free and instinctive practices founded on gesture, color, and spontaneity. Their works convey a direct energy infused with independent culture and artisanal know-how. Through paper, ink, and print, OK VOU! sketches a sensitive and fluid geography of contemporary art, where French and Japanese sensibilities intertwine.

The project originates from the friendship formed between Sébastien Esteban Desplat and the VOU/棒 team. Drawn to delicate spirit of the place, its openness to diverse mediums—ceramics, images, artist’s books, clothing, printed objects—and its strong roots in the city’s contemporary cultural scene, Sébastien Esteban Desplat initiated a dialogue with the VOU/棒 team during his 2022 residency at Villa Kujoyama. From this connection emerged the desire to create a joint exhibition.

Three years later, OK VOU! brings this collaboration to life through a group exhibition presented from December 5 to 26, 2025. The project finds meaningful resonance in this emblematic venue, which brings together numerous works on paper and pays homage both to the origins of the space and to a shared passion for printed images.

Participating Artists

Atelier Bingo, Quentin Chambry, Pierre Charpin (2012, design), Idir Davaine, César Debargue (2025, visual arts), Alexandra Duprez, Aurélius Kowalczyk, Julie Safirstein, Agata Yamaguchi

Curator

Sébastien Esteban Desplat

Partners

VOU Gallery (Kyoto) – OK Des Paris – Villa Kujoyama – as part of the Villa Kujoyama post-residency program, with the support of the Institut français, the Institut français du Japon, and the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller.

OK DES Paris 

Founded in Paris in 2024 by Sébastien Esteban Desplat, OK Des Paris is a publishing house dedicated to contemporary creation. It produces books, objects, and exhibitions that blur the lines between fanzines and artist’s books. Each project grows out of close collaboration with artists and reflects a commitment to artistic freedom, experimentation, and the blending of diverse forms of expertise.