FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2025

Artist Arilès De Tizi unveils new works in partnership with Japanese icon GACKT and the Tōkyō Kontenpōrarī art gallery
during Neksai’s AI Avatar platform launch event

Arilès De Tizi, Amaterasu – The Sun, Mixed media on canvas, 97x130cm

Tokyo, Japan – On September 15, 2025, artist Arilès De Tizi will unveil eight original works in his new project titled ELEMENTAL GACKT – The Sacred Force, presented in collaboration with GACKT.

The works in the exhibition embody each of Japan’s elemental kami: Amaterasu (Sun), Susanoo (Sea), Fūjin (Wind), Raijin (Thunder), Kagutsuchi (Fire), Yama-no-Kami (Mountain), Hoshi (Stars), and Ishi-no-Kami (Stone). These works are shown in partnership with one of Japan’s most enigmatic cultural icons, GACKT, in anticipation of the upcoming release of his new avatar app, Soulriza. A Tokyo press conference and launch event will officially introduce the project on September 15.

“Each portrait transforms Gackt into more than a human figure, making him a living vessel of nature’s forces. The series reflects my vision of him as both an icon and a spirit medium, bridging contemporary culture with Japan’s ancestral mythology.” – Arilès De Tizi

Arilès’ new paintings are presented in collaboration with Tōkyō Kontenpōrarī art gallery.

One of his current highlight projects is an NFT collaboration with global football icon Ronaldinho. This limited-edition NFT series reimagines iconic moments from Ronaldinho’s career through a striking digital art lens, blending emotion, movement, and cultural legacy into collectible works of art.

ELEMENTAL GACKT – The Sacred Force marks another pivotal step for Arilès in his rapidly evolving career. Following the success of his recent exhibition, RONALDINHO – Anatomy of a Myth, he continues to capture icons across diverse fields, while simultaneously deepening his practice with a body of more abstract works that engage in a profound inquiry into identity itself. These paintings move beyond heritage or geography, opening a space where identity is questioned as fluid, fractured, and continuously reshaped. Through this lens, Arilès seeks not to offer definitive answers, but to evoke the shifting, unstable, and often contradictory nature of what it means to belong, to be seen, and to define oneself in a world where categories blur and dissolve.

About Arilès De Tizi

Arilès De Tizi is a Franco-Algerian artist whose work merges urban street culture with contemporary fine art. Rooted in his upbringing between France and Algeria, his practice explores themes of identity and migration. Arilès blends graffiti-inspired mark-making with figurative and surreal imagery, painting iconic figures such as soccer legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

Raised on the streets of Paris among renowned graffiti artists, Arilès first learned to channel the tensions and inconsistencies of his dual heritage through art. A transformative encounter with Caravaggio’s work in Italy inspired him to teach himself to paint, moving from the streets of Paris to the studios of New York. By fusing personal history with broader societal and political concerns, Arilès De Tizi creates art that questions, commemorates, and reimagines.

With exhibitions across Tokyo, Europe, and the United States, Arilès has earned recognition for bringing street energy into gallery spaces while retaining a raw immediacy that speaks on an international scale.

Instagram: @ariles___

About Gackt

Gackt is an acclaimed Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actor, and cultural icon. Rising to prominence in the mid-1990s as the frontman of the visual kei band Malice Mizer, he launched a remarkably successful solo career in 1999 with the EP Mizérable and the album Mars. Boasting over 10 million records sold and holding the male soloist record for the most consecutive top-ten singles in Japanese music history, Gackt is truly a powerhouse in J-pop and rock.

Beyond music, Gackt has showcased his versatility across multiple media—his songs have been featured in video games (such as Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII), anime, and film; he’s also appeared in major roles on stage and screen, including an award-nominated performance in Fly Me to Saitama and as the historical figure Uesugi Kenshin in NHK’s Fūrin Kazan. Known for his theatrical, story-driven “Visualive” concerts—immersive spectacles blending music, narrative, cinema, and performance—he has elevated the concert experience into high art.

Culturally, Gackt is revered not just as a musician, but as a pop and fashion idol—his image has even inspired manga and video game characters, earning him comparisons to figures like Cloud Strife and Griffith. He is celebrated as a “living manifestation of readers’ fantasy men,” embodying the visual kei aesthetic while transcending it.

Instagram: @gackt