Bio

I was born and raised in Kanagawa, Japan.

After I graduated in 1984 from Sophia Junior College where I majored in English, I transferred to Trinity College in Washington, D.C. and majored in American Studies. I earned a B.A. degree in 1986 and returned to Japan to work in business. While I was working in Tokyo, I started to take art lessons and found so much joy and freedom in creating another dimension of the world on canvas. Then, I decided to go back to school to study painting seriously. This is because soon after I started to paint, I found that there would be a limitation on my creativity if I kept painting just by trusting my sensibilities. I thought that without any background in academic studies, painting frantically would not take me beyond the stage of pleasing myself.

Participating in the Educational Exchange Program administered by Exchange:Japan, I entered the University of Alabama in 1994, where I majored in painting while working as a Japanese instructor. These two-year contractual years made it possible for me to be convinced of my passion for art.

In 1996, I entered the Pratt Institute graduate program majoring in painting, and earned my Master’s degree in 1999. Since then, I have been devoted to developing and building up a body of oil paintings. Early in the year of 2009, I found it fascinating to create digital drawings using Adobe Photoshop. Digital works can be easily manipulated and presented in different media, and I am expecting to show them in various ways.

The following is a list of my exhibition record, and the awards and honors I have received.

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions:

2004	Plum Blossoms Gallery, NYC – “Double Surface”
2003	Domo Gallery, Summit, NJ – “Absolute”
2003	Meru Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY – “Redimensioned”
2002	Anotheroom, NYC

Group Exhibitions:

2009	MFA Circle Gallery, Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, MD – “Small Wonders” Juror: Al Miner, Curatorial Assistant at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
2008	Alpan Gallery, Huntington, NY – “Alpan International 2008” Juror: Phyllis Braff, President of the International Association of Art Critics
2008	Thomas Masters Gallery, Chicago, IL – “thomas masters gallery 15 years”
2007	Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY – “Woodstock Biennial 2007” Juror: Nohra Haime, Owner and Director of Nohra Haime Gallery, New York
2007	Stamford Art Association, Stamford, CT – “27th Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show” Juror: Gary Carrion-Murayari, Assistant Curator of Whitney Museum, New York
2007	Art Addiction Medial Museum, London, UK – “Medial 2 Art Biennial”
2006	Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ – “2006 Blank canvas Benefit: For Art's Sake”
2006	Stamford Art Association, Stamford, CT – “26th Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show” Juror: Tricia Paik, Curatorial Assistant of Museum of Modern Art, New York
2004	Mills Pond House Gallery, Smithtown Township Arts Council, St. James, NY – “29th Annual Juried Arts Exhibition” Juror: Donald Kuspit
2002	Amerasia Bank Exhibition Gallery, Flushing, NY – “Oriental Philosophy from the Ink” Curator: Luchia Lee
2002	Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL – “National GALEX 36 Exhibition” Juror: Fredrick Ortner, Professor of Art at Knox College, IL
2001	Artsforum Gallery, NYC – ”Narrative Sense”
2001	2001 Stamford Art Association, Stamford, CT – “21st Annual Faber Birren National Color Award Show” Juror: Glenn Phillips, Assistant Curator of Whitney Museum of American Art
2001	The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, New Castle, PA – “20th Annual Hoyt National Art Exhibition” Juror: Nancy G. Heller, Professor of Art History at the University of the Arts, PA
2001	Studio 4 West Gallery, Piermont, NY – “4th International Juried Exhibition” Juror: Graciela Kartofel
2001	University Place Gallery, The Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA – “ National Prize Show” Juror: Maxwell L. Anderson, Director of Whitney Museum of American Art
2001	Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY – “Breaking the Rules, Art 2001, Tri-State Juried Exhibition” Juror: Eugenie Tsai
2001	Dumbo Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY – “Random Access Memory” Curator: Silvia Rocciolo, Director of Von Lintel & Nusser Gallery, NYC
1999	GAle GAtes et al., Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY – “Slide Show”
1994	Asahi Seimei Gallery, Tokyo, Japan – “3rd National Juried Exhibition” Sponsor: Sankei Newspaper

Awards and Honors:

2008	Fellow in Painting, New York Foundation for the Arts
2007	The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, NY
2007	Award of Excellence, Manhattan Arts Gallery, NY
2007	Honorable Award, Art Addiction Medial Museum, London, UK
2006	Jones Award, Stamford Art Association, CT
2004	The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, NY
2001	Honorable Mention, Studio 4 West Gallery, NY