With the start of spring and many fairs and expos in the arts popping up in NYC, many of which offers emerging and popular works by artists around the world from the contemporary, modern, and pop genres, Onishi Gallery is proud to present a collection of some of our represented Japanese artists with a group exhibition showcasing works in a range of mediums from street art, to traditional metal and ceramic works.

Shun Sudo (b. 1977), based in Tokyo, has been deeply influenced by American pop culture from a young age and has spent his 20s traveling around the United States. When he returned home to Japan in his early 30s, he began working on paintings that reference his creative roots both in Japanese culture and the contemporary street culture of Western life. As a result, Sudo developed two artistic styles that reflect the two different aspects of his personality.

Yusuke Ochiai (b. 1977), born in Tokyo, became entranced with the vibrant colors of his surrounding Japanese landscape at five years old, mixing and matching materials ever since. Today, he lives and works in Bushwick, Brooklyn and has been participating in Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn since 2012 and continues to display his interest in color through his work as a New York City street artist. He has participated in Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn since 2012.

Osumi Yukie (b. 1945), was designated a Living National Treasure in 2015, and is the first female metalwork artist to receive this honor in history. She specializes in tankin, or hammered vessels. Osumi graduated in 1969 from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. Afterwards, she studied under Kashima Ikkoku (1898–1996), Sekiya Shirō (1907–1994), and Katsura Moriyuki (1914–1996). She also trained as an artist in the United Kingdom for a year under the sponsorship by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. She has received many honors and awards, and most recently in 2014, was the first to be awarded a residency at The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C.

Nakagawa Mamoru (b. 1947) recognized for his outstanding mastery of zōgan(metal-inlay), was designated a Living National Treasure in 2004 at the age of 56, the second youngest in history. Nakagawa has been a seminal figure in revitalizing metal-inlay as an important genre of decorative arts in Japan since it’s decline during the Meiji Restoration period. He has enlivened the traditionally monotone realm of metal casting with an unprecedented palette of colors.

Since the zōgan technique is said to have originated around Turkey, the artist has traveled there many times, following the Silk Road, the cultural crossroads of eastern and western Asia. In 2008, he visited the United States on a cultural exchange fellowship from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. While on the fellowship in Washington, D.C., he taught a master class on the Kaga zōgan technique at the Corcoran College of Art and Design

Sako Ryuhei (b. 1976) in Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Hiroshima City University in the Department of Design and Applied Arts in 1999, and then earned his master’s degree in 2002 from the same institution. Sako Ryuhei creates pieces using Mokume-gane, a Japanese metal technique dating back to the 17th century. First, very thin different colored alloyed metal sheets are layered and bonded. Then the layers are cut into, or drilled, and reworked. Achieving a successful lamination takes a very skilled artist, and although his work is based on research and experimentation using this tradition process, he manages to create very contemporary pieces. In 2004, he became a member of the Nihon Kōgeikai (Japanese Handcrafts Association) and in 2013, during his first exhibition outside Japan, the Victoria and Albert Museum purchased one of his pieces for their public collection.

Tokuda Yasokichi IV (b. 1961) succeeded her father, Tokuda Yasokichi III, a revered Kutani potter and a “Living National Treasure” artist. Tokuda inherited the techniques of their family style of Kutani porcelain production, that features saiyu glazing. Tokuda’s personal sensibility as a female artist lends her a unique perspective on the tradition that is reflected in her choices of color and interpretations of form. Tokuda is one of few female heads of a traditional potting lineage in Japan, due to those succeeding the family are most often male. However, her father decided to pass on the family’s name and practice to her. It was a challenge to make a place for herself as head artist of the family tradition in a still male-dominated social structure, but Tokuda successed in defining her own signature style and creative voice all her own.

Miyata Ryohei (b. 1945) is a metal-smith craftsman from Sado, Niigata Prefecture. He completed his major in Metalsmithing at the Tokyo University of Arts Graduate School in 1970. His major work ‘Springen’ is a series of dolphin motifs, which has been exhibited at numerous exhibitions in Japan as well as abroad. When he was on route to the examination at Tokyo University of Arts, his ferry became surrounded by dolphins, which was his inspiration. He was moved by them and they seemed to congratulate him on his departure. Since then, Miyata has created numerous works with dolphin motifs. The ‘Nitten’ Prime Minister Award and Japan Contemporary Crafts Art Exhibition Prime Minister Award are among numerous awards received. He also became Tokyo University of Arts President in 2005 and since 2016, is the Minister of the Agency of Cultural Affairs.