Areas of Expertise
Printmaking, Drawing, Graphic Arts, Media Art.
Research
I grew up when analogue was seeping into digital. For me it’s a continuum not a divide. In class I love to see all permutations: using laser cutters in ancient woodblock processes, creating animations by playing with monotype ink.
In my own work? I like the way the vinyl of the canopies at the entrance of the stores in the shopping arcade stretch over the steel framework below, like a strange, rubberized version of an Elizabethan skirt. I record the names of the snack bars. In the spring, I take day trips on my bicycle along the Sumidagawa River toward the sea, looking for native and non-native weeds that are trying to get in and out of the city. I drift through Tokyo, recording the letters on manhole covers and the signboard lettering of barbers and other stores that have long since shuttered. I wish I could bump into Shuetsu Sato over yuzu ramen. In the morning, I listen enraptured to the station attendant on the platform at Suitengumae Station announcing the arrival of the train in Noh song. These micro-experiences inform my work and lead to an unfolding understanding of the “city”. It is not a physical and psychological unity of the “city” but a fractured and fractious semi-virtual experience that exists beyond geographical space. It is a “gathering place,” as Bhabha calls it, where we speak the language of others with uncanny fluency.
Representative Works
Selected Exhibitions
- 2021 “Invisible Cities”, Duo Exhibition, Hagiso, Tokyo
- 2021 Nakanojo Biennale, residency and exhibition
- 2021 Artist Book Exhibition: Artists as Independent Publishers, Zentrum für Künstlerpublikationen, Bremen, and Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium
- 2020 Group Exhibition, Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku – “Katsue Inoue and friends”
- 2019 Group Exhibition, Keio Plaza Hotel, Shinjuku – “Katsue Inoue and friends”
- 2019 Setouchi Triennale Art Book Fair
- 2019 Group Exhibition, Ink Shop, Ithaca, New York
- 2019 Tokyo Art Book Fair, Ginza Edition
- 2019 “Out of Bounds”, Group Exhibition, Bloc Projects Gallery, Sheffield UK, part of Japan Now North supported by Japan Foundation
- 2018 Printed Matter, New York
- 2018 Group Exhibition – Taiji Kiyokawa Memorial Gallery, Setagaya Art Museum
- 2018 Group Exhibition, Launch Pad Gallery, Yokohama – “Between the Lines”
- 2017 Group Exhibition, Mount Zine, Toritsu Daigaku
- 2017 SF Art Book Fair, San Francisco
- 2017 Tokyo Art Book Fair
Writing, Translation (Japanese to English), Research
- 2020 Book – How to Start your PhD in Art, ISBN 978-4991076763
- 2020 Conference paper – “Syncretic Types: Polyphony in the Typography of Tokyo“, EU-Japan Young Scholars Workshop
- 2018 “Touching Concrete and Vinyl” – essay in Slanted #31, May 2018 issue, Magma, Berlin
- 2017 Translation – “Book Review of Propaganda and the British Suffrage Movement: Edwardian Visual Representation and the Feminine Image by Mayuka Sato“ Reviewed by Sonoko Ronden, Design History Workshop Japan Journal, Volume 14
- 2016 Translation – “Moholy Nagy: Future Present” Toshino Iguchi (Professor, Saitama University) Exhibition review in Új Muvészet (August edition).
- 2016 Translation – “The Imaging Strategy of SHISEIDO in the 1930s: Analyzing visual magazines that represented corporate identity”, Sachi Kaneda Design History Workshop Japan Journal, Volume 13
- 2014 Journal Article – Autonomous Voice: The Independent Publishing Movement in Japan: 1905-1935, Design History Workshop Japan Journal, Volume 12
- 2011 Translation – “Kitaro Kunii’s Discourse on Indigenous Industrial Arts: ‘Japaneseness’ and Modern Design in 1930s Japan“, Takuya Kida, Design History Workshop Japan Journal, Volume 9
- 2008/2009 Illustrations including cover designs for children’s books about climate change: “Hope and…” ISBN 0954916573, 1906788022
Curatorial
- 2016 Group Exhibition, “Print the People”, Tokyo Art Book Fair, Aoyama & University of the West of England, Bristol
- 2016 Group Exhibition, “Tokyo Collaboration Project”, Mount Zine, Tokyo
- 2014 Group Exhibition, “Evening” Artypunchi Gallery, Harajuku, Tokyo
- 2014 Group Exhibition, “Afternoon” Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum Shop
- 2014 Naoshi Sunae solo exhibition
- 2013 Group Exhibition/Art Event, IVVA Art Night
Guest lectures and workshops
- 2018 Ditchling Museum, UK
- 2018 City and Guilds London Art School, UK
- 2018 Central St. Martins, Printmaking Department, UK
- 2018 Rabley Drawing Center, UK
- 2018 Spike Island Print Studios, UK
- 2018 Krowji Studios, UK
- 2018 Brighton Art University, UK
- 2018 Royal Academy – London Original Print Fair, UK
- 2018 Print Mesh Club, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 2018 Grafisch Werkcentrum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 2018 Druck Graphik Atelier, Berlin, Germany
- 2018 Atelier de gravure Moutier, Switzerland
- 2018 Temple University, Rome Campus, Italy
- 2016 School of Visual Philosophy Printmaking Studios, San Jose – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2016 Berkeley Art Museum – Woodblock Printmaking Demonstrations
- 2016 Kala Institute Gallery & Printmaking Studios – Woodblock Printmaking Demonstrations
- 2016 Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia – Woodblock Printmaking Demonstrations, Seminar
- 2016 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia – Woodblock Printmaking Demonstrations
- 2016 New York Academy of Art – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2016 CWAJ Special Print Exhibition Intimate Dimensions – Lecture “Traditional Japanese Woodblock Printmaking in Contemporary Context“
- 2015 East London Printmakers – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 Brighton University – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop, Lecture “The Ecosystem of Traditional Japanese Woodblock Craftspeople“
- 2015 UWE, Bristol – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop, Lecture “The Ecosystem of Traditional Japanese Woodblock Craftspeople“
- 2015 Spike Island Print Studio, Bristol – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 Camberwell College of Arts, London – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 Central Saint Martins, London – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 City and Guilds of London Art School – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 City and Islington College, London – Woodblock Printmaking Workshop
- 2015 Joshibi University of Art and Design, Tokyo – Lecture – “ International Art Practice”
- 2011 Design History Workshop, Tokyo – Lecture – “The Independent Publishing Movement in Japan: 1905-1935”
- 2011 Tama Art University, Tokyo – Lecture – “The Independent Publishing Movement in Japan: 1905-1935”
Education
- PhD Candidate, Tokyo University of Arts
- M.F.A in Illustration, Tama Art University
- B.F.A. in Illustration, School of Art and Design, UWE Bristol
Previous Appointments
- Research Fellow, Tokyo University of Arts (2018)
- Adjunct Professor, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, (2018, Fall Semester)
Professional Associations
- Design History Workshop Japan
- Art Byte Critique