CHIHO AOSHIMA
Born in 1974 in Tokyo, Japan Lives and works in Kyoto, Japan
contacter
Chiho Aoshima started her art practice in the 1990s, rising to prominence with the international debut of her masterful, digitally rendered work in the acclaimed Superflat exhibition held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2001.
A self-taught artist and an early member of the Japanese art collective Kaikai Kiki, she began working in Adobe Illustrator before expanding into traditional mediums namely drawing, watercolor and, more recently, ceramics. Otherworldly figures and dream-like landscapes depicting child-like spirits, anthropomorphic flora, fauna and even skyscrapers, feature in Aoshima’s works.
Distinctly feminine and spiritual, the worlds and their inhabitants Aoshima has created are built on the natural world, playful and often humorous, belying melancholy and darkness. This duality is to be found in other characteristic themes — utopia/dystopia, nature/technology, natural/artificial — through which she explores ideas relating to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Deeply influenced by Japanese religious and cultural beliefs, her work is rooted in Shintoism, folklore and art historical traditions, which she interprets in a contemporary context to express her views on the future, humankind’s coexistence with nature, and the realities of our rapidly changing world.
Born in 1974 in Tokyo, Japan Lives and works in Kyoto, Japan
education
EDUCATION
Born in 1974 in Tokyo, Japan
Graduated from Department of Economics, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan
solo shows
SOLO SHOWS
2024
- Emptinesses, Perrotin, Paris, France
2020
- Our Tears Shall Fly Off into Outer Space, Perrotin, Hong Kong
2019
- Chiho Aoshima: City Glow, Washington State University Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, WA, USA
2018
- Chiho Aoshima: Takaamanohara, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado College, CO, USA
2016
- Rebirth of the World, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Rebirth of the World, Kaikai Kiki Pop-Up Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2015
- Rebirth of the World, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
2011
- Chiho Aoshima: City Glow, Museum of the Moving Image, New York, NY, USA
2008
- Kawaii ! Horror and Seduction, Foundation Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2007
- Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
- Chiho Aoshima: City Glow, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
2006
- As we died, we began to regain our spirit, Artspace Residency Program, San Antonio, USA
- Chiho Aoshima: The Divine Gas, lobby installation for new building, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA
- Chiho Aoshima, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
- Chiho Aoshima, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
- City Glow, Mountain Whisper, Gloucester Road Subway Station installation, Platform for Art, London, UK
2005
- Asleep, Dreaming of Reptilian Glory, Blum & Poe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- MTA Subway Poster Design, Public Art Fund, New York, NY, USA
- City Glow and Paradise, Union Square Subway Station Installation, Public Art Fund and Japan Society, New York, NY, USA
- DoCoMo Kyūshū Ad Campaign, NTT DoCoMo, Kyūshū and Okinawa, Japan
2004
- Collaboration with Patrick Demarchelier for the May issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine
- Opening of the gallery in Miami, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, FL, USA
- Extension Gallery Opening, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
2003
- Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
- MACROMATRIX: For your pleasure, UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Collaboration with Naoki Takizawa for Issey Miyake, Tokyo, Japan
2002
- Blum & Poe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2001
- Collaboration with Naoki Takizawa for Issey Miyake, Tokyo, Japan
group shows
GROUP SHOWS
2023
- AU BOUT DE MES RÊVES, Lille3000, Lille, France
- Nocturnal Ballads, Perrotin, Shanghai, China
- Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
2021
- Healing, Perrotin, Shanghai, China
- GEIBI KAKUSHIN (Aesthetic Innovation on Japanese Ceramic Art), Perrotin Matignon, Paris, France
2020
- Healing, Perrotin, Paris, France
- Healing, Galerie Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
2019
- Japan Supernatural, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2018
- Bubblewrap, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
2016
- Juxtapoz x Superflat, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2013
- Theatrical Gestures, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel
2010
- Kyoto-Tokyo: From Samurais to Mangas, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
2009
- Sacred Monsters: Everyday Animism in Contemporary Japanese Art and Anime, Tufts University Art Galleries, Medford, MA, USA
- The Very Bottom Of The Air, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- VRAOUM, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
- Wonderland through the Looking Glass, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands
- Pretty is as Pretty Does, Film screening, Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2008
- Aya - Chiho Drive, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art since the 1960s, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX, USA
- Krazy! Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- Re-Imagining Asia, Haus der Kulturen der Welt: The House of World Cultures (HKW), Berlin, Germany
- Kaikai Kiki Artists, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, Smithsonian Institution, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, WA, USA
2007
- Kaikai Kiki Exhibition, Aoi Gallery, Osaka, Japan
- City Glow, Nuit Blanche Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 6th Mercosur Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Red Hot: Asian Art Today from the Chaney Family Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
- Land of the Samurai, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
- Disorder in the House, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
- MCA Exposed: Defining Moments in Photography, 1967-2007, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL, USA
- Like Color in Pictures, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, USA
2006
- Banquet: A Feast for the Senses, Pacific Art Museum, Pasadena, CA, USA
- TBA Mizuho Oshiro Gallery, Kagoshima, Japan
- Chiho Aoshima, Mr., Aya Takano, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, France
- Human Land, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, France
- Spank the Monkey, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
- Berlin-Tokyo, Tokyo-Berlin, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
- Starkwhite Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Painting Codes, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
- Il Diavolo del Focolare, Plazzo della Triennale, Milano, Italy
- See Into Liquid, Contemporary Art Museum of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
- Rising Sun, Melting Moon, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
- POPulance, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
- Roppongi Hills Show, Tokyo, Japan
- Walker Center installation, MN, USA
- International Artist-in-Residence: New Works 06.3, Artspace, San Antonio, TX, USA
- Twogether, 34 Long Fine Arts, Cape Town, South Africa
2005
- See into liquid curated by Cydney Payton, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO, USA
- Variations on the Picturesque, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
- Kaikai Kiki exhibition, Aoi Gallery, Osaka, Japan
- Ecstasy: In & About Altered States curated by Paul Schimmel, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- POPulance, Blaffer Gallery, Museum of Art of the University of Houston, Houston, TX; Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Salem, NC, USA
- Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture curated by Takashi Murakami, Japan Society, New York, NY, USA
- What’s Good Conference, Lecture, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, Japan
- Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
2004
- Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Miami, FL, USA
- Mysterious curated by Dominic Molon, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, CA, USA
- 54th Carnegie International 2004-05, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- T-Junction, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
- Fiction Love: Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
- Eijanaika! Yes Future!, Lambert Collection, Avignon, France
- Art Unlimited, Basel Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
- Lonely Planet, Art Tower Mito, Ibaragi, Japan
- Tokyo Girls Bravo, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Chiho Aoshima, Mr., Aya Takano, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin at LFL Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Little Boy : The Arts of Japan's Exploding Pop Culture, Japan Society, New York, NY, USA
2003
- Hope—The Future is in Our Hands, LAFORET Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan
- For the Record: Drawing Contemporary Life, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
- Splat, Boom, Pow! The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art curated by Valerie Cassel, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA
- The Mythical Being of Desire: Chiho Aoshima, Shirin Neshat, Shazia Shikander, Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College, Chicago, IL, USA
- MACROMATRIX: For your pleasure, UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA, USA
- SAM Collects: Contemporary Art Project, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
- Asprey Jacques, London, UK
2002
- Art Basel Miami, FL, USA
- FIAC, Paris, France
- Tokyo Girls Bravo 2, NADiff, Tokyo, Japan
- Chiho Aoshima, Aya Takano, Mr., Takashi Murakami, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
- Coloriage, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
- Liverpool Biennial 2002, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
2001
- Superflat, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
- Yokai Festival, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Hiropon Show curated by Takashi Murakami, Museum of Contemporary Art of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Hiropon Show, White Cube Gallery, Shinsaibashi PARCO, Osaka, Japan
2000
- Superflat, Tokyo and Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1999
- Hiropon 32-80, NADiff, Tokyo, Japan and George’s, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Tokyo Girls Bravo, NADiff, Tokyo and Parco Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
public collections
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
- Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
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