Lady Aiko is an internationally renown street artist from Japan. Lady Aiko was born in Tokyo, Japan. The artist attended college at Tokyo Zokei University where she studied filmmaking and graphics design. Lady Aiko went on to earn an M.F.A. from the New School located in New York City.
After college the artist worked with Japan’s version of Andy Warhol, Takashi Murikami.
The artist has also worked with the street legend Banksy, taking pictures of the artist whilst Banksy made unauthorized installations at the Museum of Modern Art located in New York City. She has also worked with the group F.A.I.LE.
Below we check out a show by Aiko that took place at the Standard Hotel located in Los Angeles, California:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Below a great interview with Lady Aiko plus a studio visit!:
Although the artist Banksy calls street art a movement featuring few females some other great female street artists include Faith 47, Swoon, Maya Hayuk, and Miss Van.
Shiro Takagi was a wonderful printmaker renown for his work with the landscape and birds. Takagi Shiro was born in Hirosaki, Aomori prefecture, Japan in the year 1934.
The artist attended Musashino College of Fine Art located in Tokyo, Japan. The artist quit before graduating as he didn’t like the class structure. Takagi also studied privately with an established printmaker, Amano Kunihiro.
Takagi won many prizes at shows featuring print works in both Japan and Brazil.
Shiro Takagi passed away in 1998.
The artist is part of the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
As mentioned in a recent post, many woodblock print artists use the pattern and grain of the wood to give their finished work a high level of abstraction. Takagi sometimes uses the pattern of wood as the clouds and sky.
Shuzo Ikeda was a Japanese woodblock artist renown for his imagery of children. Shuzo Ikeda was born in Aikita prefecture, Japan in the year 1922.
One great aspect about the art of Shuzo Ikeda is his use of wood grain pattern that appears in finished works. Many Japanese printmakers use this idea and the viewer can see that wood patterns can be found in reflections of bodies and water. Very innovative use of the surface.
Shuzo Ikeda passed away in 2004.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
The artist reminds of Disney master Mary Blair. Both artists created imagery of kids at play.
Another artist with a somewhat similar use of subject matter is the American painter Margaret Keane. Recently a movie about Keane was released called “Big Eyes.” This movie by Tim Burton is a great movie about art and how Margaret Keane’s husband got her to believe for a period of time it was better for the world and themselves if the everyone thought he was the painter rather than her. A true story also!
Hayashi Waichi is a Japanese printmaker renown for his work with flowers. Hayashi Waichi was born in Shizoka prefecture in the year 1951.
Waichi attended the Kanazawa Arts and Crafts College located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan.
Waichi enjoys working in many mediums including painting, printmaking, ceramics, and pottery.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
As with most woodblock artists Waichi shows a wonderful sense of design in his art. Waichi also does a great job at controlling his use of the color red. Not too much, not too little, always the right amount.
Fumio Fujita is a master Japanese printmaker renown for his landscapes and images of trees. In his later years his focus has been mainly on trees, but in his earlier years he worked with the landscapes and also made wonderful prints of animals.
Fumio Fujita was born in Aichi prefecture, Japan in the year 1933.
The artist attended Musashino College of Fine Arts located in the western part of Tokyo, Japan.
Fujita began producing woodblock prints in 1963.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Fujita shows a remarkable sense of design always looking for patterns in items such as tree bark and leaves. Overall his work shows a great blend of realism and abstraction.
Hideo Hagiwara was a Japanese printmaker born in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan in the year 1913.
His father was a government official and the artist grew up in Machuria and Korea.
The artist attended college at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts.
Hagiwara’s favorite subject matter included the figure, landscapes, and abstract works. Hagiwara also liked to experiment with new processes of the printmaking technique.
Hagiwara became interested in the printmaking process after going to a class held by print master Hiratsuka Unichi.
One of the many successful print series made by the artist was based on Greek mythology.
Hideo Hagiwara passed away in 2007.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
The artist had wonderful results in abstract and landscape works. His works are fun to look at because the artist was always experimenting with changing his process. The viewer always seems to see something new, different, and exciting in each work.
Fujikasa Satoko is a world renown Japanese ceramicist. Fujikasa Satoko was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in the year 1980. Satoko attended the Tokyo University for the Arts where she earned a masters degree in the fine arts.
price range information: Sorry none available.
Though she is a sculptor, her work reminds me of the painter Daniel Adel. Adel often paints subjects that are very free flowing including crumpled paper and water.
Satoko is featured in many prestigious collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art located in New York City, and Minneapolis Museum of Art located in Minnesota.
Tomie Ohtake was an outstanding Japanese/ Brazilian painter renown for her abstract style. Ohtake was a painter, printmaker, and sculptor.
Tomie Ohtake was born in Kyoto, Japan in the year 1913. When she was in her early twenties she went to visit a brother who was living in Brazil. During her visit World War 2 began, she was unable to leave Brazil, and she never returned to Japan settling permanently in Brazil.
Below a short montage of works by Tomie Ohtake that shows many of her public works:
In this clip we view a series of glass mosaic tiles designed by Tomie Ohtake that are on permanent display at a subway station in Sao Paulo, Brazil:
Ohtake represented Brazil on multiple occasions at the Venice and Sao Paulo Biennials.
The artist had a son who went on to become a world renown architect renown for innovative styles named Ruy Ohtake.
Tomie Ohtake passed away on February 12 of 2015 at the age of 101 years old.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
With her use of such innovative shapes the artist was at the fore front of contemporary art in Brazil paving the way for such artists as Beatrice Milhazes.
Maruyama Okyo was a highly renown Japanese realist painter. Maruyama Okyo was born in 1733 in Kameoka, Kyoto, Japan. His birth name was Maruyama Masataka. The artist was born into a family of farmers.
As a teenager he moved to the big city of Kyoto and found work at a toy shop. This is where he became introduced to Western art as the toy shop sold what was then a leading edge piece of technology, the stereoscope. This machine allowed artists to produce great works in three dimensions with great perspective.
He pursued art as a profession and studied former master painters and prints. He also came under the tutelage of Ishidi Yutei.
The artist used his own mix of Western and Eastern painting philosophies and started his own school named the Maruyama School of Painting that was based in Kyoto, Japan.
Okyo was also among the first artist to paint the nude from life. This style of art was seen as pornographic by most of the population.
Maruyama Okyo passed away in 1795. Over his lengthy career the artist completed man commissions for members of government and the royal family.
Price range information: Works range from $100,000 to $1 million dollars.
In this clip we view many works by Okyo from a show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The part of the clip containing his artwork begins at 3:25 of the segment:
Many fellow artists were critical of Okyo’s style, they felt it was too dedicated to realism with no sense of artistic license.
I enjoy the artist highly detailed watercolors, especially the landscapes. Okyo had a great sense of design and made wonderful use of the negative space in his paintings.
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