Artist Statement
When I paint, the question “How can a work of art feel alive?” drives me. I believe people experience a sense of “reality” when they encounter the invisible—time, memory, light, wind, heat—that cannot be captured by sight alone. Through reflections and shadows on acrylic sheets and layers of semi-transparent materials, I try to recreate this sensation of “being here, now” in my work.
Short BIO
Born in Tokyo, I was raised with my mother’s philosophy of life, including brown rice, zazen, and foraging wild plants. After working in advertising and landscape design, I engaged in forest restoration and environmental education connecting people with nature. While working, I pursued my dream of art school through a correspondence program, and after graduation, I exhibited in rental galleries. In recent years, my practice has connected with social issues such as the environment and disaster recovery, exploring ways to shift perception and understanding of the world through bodily and sensory experience.
Education
- 2020 B.A. oil Painting, Kyoto University of the Arts
Awards
- 2025 Second Prize,IAG AWARD Exhibition2025|Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Tokyo
- 2024 Excellence Award,Asago Biennale|Asago Art Village, Hyogo
- 2024 Grand Prize, ACT Art Award Exhibition |The Artcomplex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo
Solo and Duo Exhibitions
- 2025 “Ref-rection”, Namiki Gallery, Tokyo
- 2025 “Omake de Ame”, Solo Exhibition as Grand Prize Winner, ACT Artcomplex Center of Tokyo
- 2023 “Sunlit Moments”, Citizens’ gallery in Taiji Kiyokawa Memorial Gallery, Tokyo
- 2023–2025 Solo Exhibitions, Namiki Gallery, Tokyo
- 2021–2024 “Noriko Okuyama × Michi OGAWA”, Duo Exhibition Series, Namiki Gallery, Tokyo
Group Exhibitions
- 2026 – SAGA ARTIST FAIR | EDAUME (former Edame Sake Brewery), Saga (upcoming)
- 2026 – 29th Taro Okamoto Contemporary Art Award Exhibition | Kawasaki City Taro Okamoto Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanagawa (upcoming)
- 2025 – Marginal Art Fair ed2: Unsettled Landscapes | Hirono Town Gymnasium, Fukushima
- 2025 – Marginal Art Fair × Sophia University Global Coexistence Research Institute POPUP Exhibition | Sophia University, Tokyo
(Artists addressing feminism in wartime Ukraine and the Fukushima nuclear disaster) - 2025 “MARGINAL ART FAIR Fukushima Hirono“
- 2024 The 42nd Ueno Royal Museum Grand Prize Exhibition
- 2023 7th Saburo Miyamoto Memorial Drawing Award Exhibition (Ishikawa & Tokyo), etc.
Other
- Solo exhibition scheduled in 2026 at ASAGO ART VILLAGE
- Since 2025, active in the collective “Mika Hoshi”, creating primarily large-scale installations.
【Publications / Writings】
- Co-authored: “Community Building in the ‘Forest of Treasures'”, Parks and Open Space, Vol.75 No.1, 2014 (Japanese; on environmental community planning)
- Co-authored: “Feeding Behavior of Saturniidae on Pourthiaea villosa”, YASAN, Vol.85, 2019 (Natural science research)
- Illustrator: The Earth’s Treasured Soil, 2022 (Children’s science picture book)
