■Education
2008〜The Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
2007 China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
2002 Ph.D. in Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
1999 M.F.A. in Mural Paintin, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
1997 B.F.A. in Oil Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
■Teaching Affliations
2006/09-2009/07 The Japanese Government Overseas Study Program for Artists
2005/04-2006/08 Part-time Instructor, Waseda Industrial Elementary School, Tokyo
2005/04-2006/03 Art Researcher, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
2004/04-2007/03 Part-time Instructor, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto
2002/04-2005/03 Part-time Instructor, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
Art is means of travel for me. My creativity was awakened at the age of fifteen when I travelled around Japan. Afterwards, I travelled to the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany etc…. currently, I have been based in Beijing since 2006.
I received Ph.D from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2002 in Tokyo. My international debut exhibition was, "Storing Wind and Securing Water" at Tsurugi International Art Festival in Kanazawa in 1997. Afterwards, I created twelve sculptures of the sundial at Mogami Environmental Arts Festival '97 Landscape Art Contest in Yamagata. They have become landmarks at rural sites. Both demonstrate the effects of human intervention on things.
I began executing landscape projects that connect nature and the art in a dynamic way. It may sound like only for the moment, however, I am intentionally focusing on the mighty truth of the fact of physical metamorphosis itself.
At the age of 24 I was chosen to be a participating artist in the Kyoto International Art Festival. I have been taking a part in Chinese Biennial, Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial and other international exhibitions since then.
I am best known for my clay sculptures and large-scale earthwork projects exploring the exchange between people and the larger universe. My works incorporating KARESANSUI(traditional Japanese landscape garden) and FUSUI(Chinese feng shui) into contemporary art have won me high international acclaim.
I am interested in relationships with the others. For instance, between nature and people, people and people. I have collaborated with architect, dancer, ecologist and various professionals in my earthwork projects.
My recent earthwork seeks new approaches to natural global environment, while I investigate the fundamental issues of a view of nature in collaboration with scientists, psychologist, and folklorist.
We must protect the global environment through international cooperation.
This latest exhibition will feature new pieces that represent a development of the “Storing Wind and Securing Water” series I displayed at the Chinese Biennial in 2008. I also intend to show drawings made using a clay and water. These will take the form of organic shapes inspired by my own imagination rather than borrowed from actual objects.
“I am constantly thinking about situations in which the sense of the sight and the sense of touch are stimulated simultaneously”