MIZOE ART GALLERY

Colorful insects dancing against a glittering Rimpa style background. Small animals living quietly in the grass and by the water. Fish swimming leisurely in a clear stream. Small life forces swarming around the light of night. In depicting the microcosm of the familiar satoyama (undeveloped woodland) in southern Kyushu, Takahide Komatsu creates artworks on the theme of changing ecosystems and the symbiosis of humans and nature.
At the same time, he also works to shed light on the great people of his hometown Miyazaki in the form of documentary filmmaking. Following his previous work “Toho Shiotsuki” , his newest documentary “Chihei Nakamura” beautifully depicts the life of a literary figure who struggled through the tides of history.

【 SOLO Exhibition 】

He has had solo exhibitions and exhibited at art fairs in 10 countries, such as the UK, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Taiwan.

At first glance, the figures depicted in Nanami Shibata’s works appear enigmatic. These figures are based on motifs that appear in various media, such as characters on the stage, on the screen, and in fairy tales passed down from generation to generation. Appearing in various creations and being repeatedly transformed and reincarnated through the eyes and hands of their makers and receivers, their existence is something that transcends time and space. It does not disappear when it ceases to be seen, but rather continues to live on, dissolving into memory and changing in form. By reinterpreting and painting this uncertain existence on canvas, the artist explores the transition of images and their possibilities. What becomes evident through the artist’s work is the material appeal of painting and her deep discernment in desiring to find new ways to render the image of figures.

【 SOLO Exhibition 】

2010 Tokyo Wonder Site Emerging「ROOFS」 Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo
2012 SURFACE Neuro Café, Tokyo
2013 「Yellow Stage」　Takashi Somemiya Gallery, Tokyo
2014 「Actor」　Takashi Somemiya Gallery, Tokyo
2016 「Montage」　Mizoe Art Gallery, Fukuoka
2020 「Form」　Mizoe Art Gallery, Tokyo, Fukuoka
2022 「Drama within a Drama」Mizoe Art Gallery, Tokyo, Fukuoka
2023 「Resolution」　Mizoe Art Gallery, Tokyo, Fukuoka
2024 「Shadow and Unevenness」　Mizoe Art Gallery, Fukuoka
2025 「The Form of Somebody」　Ginza Tsutaya Books, Tokyo

【 Group Exhibition 】

2008 HOPES Exhibition Fukuyama City Museum of Art, Hiroshima
2008 WONDER SEED 2008 Wonder Site Shibuya, Tokyo　
2009 TOKYO WONDER WALL 2009 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
2009 TAG BOAT SUMMER AWORD 2009 Art Complex Gallery, Tokyo
2010 TOKYO WONDER WALL 2010 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
2013 Today’s One Piece Exhibition　　 Onomichi City University Art Museum, Hiroshima
2013 Shell Prize Exhibition 2013　　 The National Art Center, Tokyo
2014 Today’s Method of Life Exhibition　　Takamatsu City Shionoe Art Museum, Kagawa
2017 Shell Prize Artist Selection Exhibition 2017　　The National Art Center, Tokyo
2022 ARTIST TRANSFER in HIROSHIMA　 Art Gallery Miyauchi, Hiroshima
2023 ART LOUNGE PROJECT #3 Le Metté Adeline, Okayama
2024 Chisato Matsumoto + Nami Shibata “Dual Vision” Exhibition Kyoto Tsutaya Books, Kyoto

【 Award 】

2009　
Selected for an award at TOKYO WONDER WALL 2009.

2010
Selected for an award at TOKYO WONDER WALL 2010.

2013
Selected for Shell Art Award 2013.

Takashi Yatoji explores ways of expression that challenge preconceptions, and hover in-between abstract and figurative. In recent years, he has chosen as his motifs, “AI generated photos of human-like figures” and “photos from several years ago that he has no recollection of taking”. In the process of turning incidental and unrelated matters into artworks, emotions and relationships are formed between the object and the artist, giving them a new found meaning and importance.

【 SOLO Exhibition 】

2019 “Takashi Yatoji exhibition ~Converting Paintings~” at Okawa Municipal Seiriki Art Museum (Fukuoka).
And many other.

【 Group Exhibition 】

TAGSTÅ ART SHOW IN TAIPEI (Taipei, Taiwan).
Art Gaia @Jonanjima: contemporary art exhibition (Tokyo)

【 Award 】

2012 the 62nd Saga Art Exhibition, Saga Governor Prize
2013 The 22nd EITEN -Persons and the Customs -, Grand Prize
The 63rd Saga Art Exhibition, Saga Chamber-of-Commerce Joint Association Prize
Selected for the 1st Yamanashi Wine and Contemporary Art Prize
Selected for the 22nd Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program Prize
Selected as a scholarship student for the Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program
2017 Selected for the 5th Aoki Shigeru Memorial West Japan Art Exhibition

Takashi Yatoji explores ways of expression that challenge preconceptions, and hover in-between abstract and figurative. In recent years, he has chosen as his motifs, “AI generated photos of human-like figures” and “photos from several years ago that he has no recollection of taking”. In the process of turning incidental and unrelated matters into artworks, emotions and relationships are formed between the object and the artist, giving them a new found meaning and importance.

【 SOLO Exhibition 】

2019 “Takashi Yatoji exhibition ~Converting Paintings~” at Okawa Municipal Seiriki Art Museum (Fukuoka).
And many other.

【 Group Exhibition 】

TAGSTÅ ART SHOW IN TAIPEI (Taipei, Taiwan).
Art Gaia @Jonanjima: contemporary art exhibition (Tokyo)

【 Award 】

2012 the 62nd Saga Art Exhibition, Saga Governor Prize
2013 The 22nd EITEN -Persons and the Customs -, Grand Prize
The 63rd Saga Art Exhibition, Saga Chamber-of-Commerce Joint Association Prize
Selected for the 1st Yamanashi Wine and Contemporary Art Prize
Selected for the 22nd Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program Prize
Selected as a scholarship student for the Mitsubishi Corporation Art Gate Program
2017 Selected for the 5th Aoki Shigeru Memorial West Japan Art Exhibition

A defining characteristic of Kenpei Yunde’s work is their powerful presence, despite the soft color palettes and contours. This is created by the numerous layers of paint which are then scraped off and polished, resulting in a unique blur and luster.

A representative series of Yunde’s work is the 110 paintings he created over a five-year period on the theme of the Japanese Constitution. During his research in Bhutan, which was inspired by his focus on “happiness as a human being,” he noticed how people cherish the simple connections between human beings. The unpaved roads and puddles, which became an important motif for the work, symbolize the choice to value living with one’s family over traveling far to accumulate greater wealth.
Today, he continues to expand on this theme, focusing on the question, “What is happiness for humans?”

The process of creating his works is characterized by the way he starts from the depiction of “soil” and proceeds as if he were cultivating it. After the “soil” is completed, rain, trees, and puddles are painted, carefully capturing a very human happiness that comes from being one with nature.

Kenpei Yunde continues to pursue expressions of happiness. Through his paintings, people are moved, being reminded of the things that everyone has but takes for granted.

Gyoji Nomiyama was born in 1920 in Honami Village of Fukuoka Prefecture, now the city of Iizuka. He spent his childhood in the Chikuho region, which boasted a prosperous coal industry, and later entered the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts) with the intention of becoming a painter. Upon graduation, he was drafted into the Japanese army and sent to Manchuria. After the war, he spent 12 years in Paris from 1952, after which he returned to Japan and served as a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2014, he was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit for his many years of distinguished service and remained active in his artistic endeavors while traveling between Tokyo and Fukuoka, until his death at age of 102.