“Winter Group Show I” Exhibition

Onishi Gallery

This event has ended.

Onishi Project presents two winter group shows featuring contemporary Japanese artists.

The first show, Group 1, will be hosted from January 5th to January 18th, 2017. This group is featuring: Atsuomi Nakamura, Koji Wachi, Masashige Furuya, Yoshimi Minami and Yukari Tsubaki.

Atsomi Nakamura – Born 1974 (Yamaguchi, Japan), lives and works in Yamaguchi, Japan
Atsomi Nakamura is interested in dealing with themes involving science, philosophy, social, and environmental issues through his delicate paper-cutting techniques.

Koji Wachi – Born 1944 (Saitama, Japan), lives and works in Saitama, Japan
Currently, Koji Wachi is the chairman of a large transportation company run by his family. He focuses on taking photos that mainly feature nature, especially Mount Fuji or farming villages that symbolize his native Japan. He has been trying to dissolve the colors caught by his eye and put the colors caught by his heart into his work.

Masahige Furuya – Born 1980 (Saitama, Japan), lives and works in Asaka, Saitama, Japan
Masahige Furuya first expressed interest in making art with clay when he was a child. HE then went on to have a career as a painter, studying oil painting in art school. Today, he creates art by mixing oil and acrylic paints. He aims to express the imagination: what we can see, as well as what is invisible to the human eye.

Yoshimi Minami – Born 1948 (Fukuoka, Japan), lives and works in Kitakyusyu, Fukuoka, Japan
Yoshimi Minami used to work at the Fukuoka prefectural office. After he retired, he began his career as a photographer. He features scenery of nature, towns and urban life and tries to express the beauty of lights, shadow, shape and colors.

Yukari Tsubaki – Born 1983 (Hyogo, Japan), lives and works in Nishinomiyashi, Hyogo, Japan
Yukari Tsubaki graduated from Kobe College Department of English and then worked for an electronic company before beginning a career as an artist. Working in india ink, she creates realistic drawings and uses basic calligraphy with artistic elements. Her goal is to express elegant beauty that stimulates the senses.

The second group, Group 2, will be hosted from January 19th to February 1st, 2017 and will feature: Ai Suzuki, Maika Kobayashi, Masashi Suzuki, Meisui Hatano, Natsuyo Takahashi, Toshiko Kitano Groner and Yumiko yamada.

Ai Suzuki – Born 1977 (Aichi, Japan), lives and works in Toyohashi-city, Aichi, Japan
Ai Suzuki has loved to daydream since she was very young. She is always using her imagination, creating stories for her surroundings – both in reality and in her dreams. Her creative work mainly involves the stylized use of calligraphy brushes. This is her way of expressing the shapeless images of her imagination and the thoughts and feelings we can’t see.

Maika Kobayashi – Born 1986 (Tokyo, Japan), lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
Maika Kobayashi is inspired by so many sources, including: nature, myths, dreams, and seeing accessories. Creating art is her passion, used to communicate her feelings and connect with people. She has been refining her work recent years to use more simple and symbolic motifs she finds better for display.

Masashi Suzuki – Born 1956 (Fukushima, Japan), lives and works in Yamatsuri-machi, Fukushima, Japan
Masashi Suzuki graduated from pottery school and the art school of Musashino. He uses erasing techniques for drawing and enjoys using only two or three colors at most. Today, he lives for drawing, painting, making sculpture, pottery, and planting rice.

Meisui Hatano – Born 1961 (Aichi, Japan), lives and works in Kasugai-city, Aichi, Japan
Meisui Hatano came up with a hieroglyph of a word “楽 (joy)” in her mind at her apartment in New York in January 2015. Since then she has been drawing New York’s scenery using the motif of that hieroglyph word. Now a days the word “楽” appears on every work she does. She regards Sho (書, calligraphy) as a contemporary art called “SumiArt” that destroys image of classic calligraphy.

Natsuyo Takahashi – Born 1977 (Saitama, Japan), lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
Natsuyo Takahashi is a web designer and mold-maker. Her works are expressions of accumulations and assemblage through solid installations. Recently she has been interested in using tape measures to create sculpture objects from nature.

Toshiko Kitano Groner – Lives and works in New York, NY
Toshiko enjoys using different mediums to express simple subjects. Each medium gives her a different and special tool to specifically represent her intimate emotions. She works on oil, pastel and watercolor depending on the specific essence of each subject. Ordinary things such as fruit, flowers, still lives and landscapes or circles and lines are her subjects. She seeks to express the world around her and inside her with simplicity and color, especially in the unique hues and tones of color from her native Japan.

Yumiko Yamada – Born 1938 (Yokohama, Japan), lives and works in Yokohama, Japan
Yumiko Yamada graduated from an academy for music and she has been teaching piano and also making paintings for a long time. She knew of ink painting eight years ago through her work using other materials such as watercolors and oil paints. She believes the nature of ink helps teach us about the tastefulness of wabi-sabi. Ink, and its connection to the tea ceremony, zen and Haikai, have deeply affected Japanese culture and art.