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Courtesy of our good friend Brett Ashley Hawkins
Tag Archives: chiho aoshima
We profile Chiho Aoshima and look at Rebirth of the World at the Seattle Art Museum
Chiho Aoshima garnered international attention for her large-scale “City Glow” installations in New York City’s 14th Street/Union Square subway station in 2005 and West London’s Gloucester Road Underground Station in 2006.
Chiho Aoshima’s artwork invites you into a world that is impossibly believable. Although her vibrant dreamscapes are sometimes described as dark and even unsettling, Aoshima somehow manages to convey a tone of detached innocence in her renderings, almost as if the artist is a childlike spectator in a world of her own making.
Utilizing computer software, Aoshima creates elaborate, colourful fantasy worlds where elements of anime, mythology, erotica, and surrealism converge against the backdrop of exquisitely designed landscapes. Her work is infused with a whimsical curiosity, yet the various spectres, demons, and lolicom-inspired schoolgirls that inhabit her ethereal environments explore the darker side of Japanese pop culture.
Although Chiho Aoshima received no formal training in art, she developed a passion for creative expression while earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Hosei University. Recognising that Economics was not her primary field of interest–in her own words, she was “bored to death”–Aoshima began working for famed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, and was eventually welcomed into his highly acclaimed Kaikai Kiki collective. Aoshima has since displayed her printed works on surfaces of all kinds, including paper, plexiglass, canvas, and aluminium.
Chiho Aoshima is once again offering the art world a glimpse of her unique vision with her first solo exhibition in nearly 7 years entitled “Rebirth of the World“, which is now on display at the Seattle Art Museum. In her signature superflat style, Aoshima provides viewers with a series of alternate realities and possible futures where man-made structures take on organic characteristics, and nature begins to fuse with technology in surprisingly convincing ways. Aoshima is in many respects a master architect of provocative dream worlds that challenge the imagination and skilfully bridge the gap between fantasy and reality.
View our fine selection of Chiho Aoshima prints available at: http://www.kumicontemporary.com/artwork/chiho-aoshima.html
Chiho Aoshima beautifully framed prints now available:
We are excited to announce a selection of framed Chiho Aoshima prints are available to purchase from Kumi Contemporary. Framed to conservation standards in solid black, the frames beautifully accentuate the vibrancy of Chiho Aoshima’s artwork. Among the framed pieces includes Chiho’s masterpiece City Glow, the iconic Japanese Apricot 2, the stunning Hot Spring and the ethereal beauty Mushroom Room. Please contact us if you wish to purchase or view the pieces.
Chiho Aoshima Prints Framed
Chiho Aoshima: City Glow Framed
Chiho Aoshima: Hot Spring Framed
Chiho Aoshima: Japanese Apricot 2 Framed
Chiho Aoshima: Mushroom Room Framed
Classic Chiho Aoshima prints available: Mushroom Room & Sky
We have added a further two classic Chiho Aoshima prints to the website. Chiho Aoshima’s psychedelic fairytale masterpiece Mushroom Room is one her earlier works dating back to 2000, whilst the Chiho’s ethereal beauty Sky was published in 2006.
Chiho Aoshima Prints
Chiho Aoshima: Artist Profile
Reply
Chiho Aoshima’s work provided one of my first experiences of Japanese Art in the West. In 2006 she adorned Gloucester Road tube station in London with images from her City Glow series. The glowing building heads beautifully framed between the arches and lit up to provide a visual treat for every commuter who passed through. The station itself was not on-route for me at the time but i’d often make a diversion so i could bask in it’s beauty. The series soon made its way to the New York subway at 14 Street Union Square.
Chiho Aoshima’s Background
Chiho Aoshima was born in 1974 in Tokyo Japan. She graduated with a degree in Economics from Hosei University, Tokyo. Chiho’s artistic career began in Takashi Murakami’s factory and she soon became a member of the now infamous Kai Kai Kiki collective. Chiho Aoshima soon established herself as one of Japan’s top Japanese pop artists with her incredible talent, thrilling audiences with her visions of surreal dreamscapes – beautiful merging the heavenly and the horrific.
Now one of the pioneers of the Japanese Contemporary art movement, Chiho Aoshima continues to excite her audiences with stunning exhibitions across the globe, producing displays so enormous and detailed that it feels you are truly part of the surreal world.
The detail and beauty of her worlds are certainly not lost in Chiho Aoshima’s prints. Beautifully printed on lithograph paper, each print is hand signed, numbered and dated by the artist.
Chiho Aoshima Prints
Chiho Aoshima: Japanese Apricot 2
Chiho Aoshima: Yayake Chan Miss Sunset
Chiho Aoshima: Japanese Apricot
Chiho Aoshima: The Fountain of the Skull
Chiho Aoshima: Japanese Apricot 3
Welcome to Kumi Contemporary
We’d like like to begin our very first post by welcoming you to Kumi Contemporary. Kumi has been our passion for the last few years and we are overjoyed to have finally launched the website.
Kumi Contemporary was conceived with the primary aim of sharing the beauty of Japanese Contemporary art with collectors and enthusiasts alike.
Kumi literally means ‘everlasting beauty‘ – a testament to the beautiful artwork and a remarkable culture.
Japanese post-modern art is thriving. Takashi Murakami’s Superflat movement has paved the way for a newer generation of young artists: Chiho Aoshima, Mr, Ai Yamaguchi. Japanese influences in the street art have helped shape a new art movement. Graffiti artists Aiko Nakagawa and Hush are two of the most recognisable names in the industry.
We’ll be updating the blog with our new artwork and also bringing you the latest Japanese Contemporary art news. You can subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking the RSS icon and sign-up to our newsletter using the link at the top.
We love hearing and talking about Japanese Art – so whether you’re a collector or an enthusiast, send us an email to say hello.
If you would like one of our postcards send us your name and address using the contact form on the website and we’ll send one straight out to you.
With love,
Kumi