ON megumi Akiyoshi 


 
Artist Statement
Painting, participatory installation, and performance are my fields of artwork. In these works, I represent ‘five petals blossom’ and ‘peony’ as buoyant symbol by painting them on any possible surface. These paintings turn into a large image on the floor, windows, or into interactive floor installation.
The five petals blossom, with its geniality, frequently appears in my work, symbolizes for me a continuous perpetuity from its scientific name, rotate (wheel-shaped) corolla, just like an eternally spinning hoop. The peony is my favored bloom with its confident expansiveness and myriad promise of figure, as if it could embrace anything in its presence.
Selected hues are usually a combination of vivid to pastel tones and a clear transparent.

Using all the elements above, my ambition is to draw attention to things forgotten. For example, I painted the entire wall surface, ceiling and floor, leaving the inside of the spotlighted golden frame white, resulting in the entire space treated fairly. I also installed flowery pagoda-outlined boards at the front garden of a 500 years old pagoda, evoking most of Buddhist architectures in Japan were originally richly colored, paying respect to its long-lasting history.

By offering visual voices and characters for overlooked aspects, I hope to contribute by creating whimsical yet balanced atmospheres at any given opportunity.

“Blooming Bubbles” Statement
ON megumi Akiyoshi created a series of paintings and sculptures called, "Blooming Bubbles". ON visualizes life circulating and flowing perpetually in this world and beyond. In this flux, spumes are born and disappear just like flowers open and lose their petals. "Blooming Bubbles" are the artist’s projection of our existence. We are all given a certain amount of time in one lifetime, during which, ON wishes full blossoming for all beings.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
2009 “Something Seethrough”, Turandot with Hirano Kotoken, Tokyo “Surround Round”, B-gallery, Tokyo
2008 “ON gallery @ Vending Machine Branch” and Artist Talk, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2006 “ON Museum @ Times Square”, Times Square, NY. Sponsored by Manhattan Community Arts Fund
2005 “Dress the dress”, Motoazabu Gallery, Tokyo “Dress the dress”, xanadu*, curator: Lynn Del Sol, West Village, NY
1999 “FLOWER gallery”, Gareria Grafica, Tokyo, Japan GROUP EXHIBITIONS ( * = catalogue exists )
2010 “O -mawaru- “, Art Next Gallery, New York, NY
2009 * (2007 + 2008) “Sustainable Art Project”, Ueno Town art Museum by Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
“The Drop: Urban Art Infill art festival”, 521 West 25th Street, New York
“ON gallery in Rheinfall”, Galerie rein art, Switzerland
“A Midsummer’s Dream”, juried by danDANS, Chinzan-so, Tokyo
“International Incheon Woman Artist’s Biennale”, Incheon, South Korea
2008 (‘05+’06) “D.U.M.B.O. Art Festival”, juried by D.U.M.B.O. Art Center, Brooklyn, NY
“Unreal City”, curator: Mariko Tanaka, Gallery Satori, New York, NY
2007 * “Making a Home”, curator: Eric Shiner, Japan Society, New York, NY
“Jamaica Flux 2007”, curator: Heng-Gil Han, Jamaica Center for the Arts and Learning, Queens, NY
“The Reality Show”, curator: Jean Hong, 2 x 13 Gallery, Chelsea, NY.
2006 * “Fiction @ Love”, curator: Victoria Lu, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
“Scope New York art fair”, presented by Jack the Pelican Presents, New York, NY.
* “Fiction Love”, curator: Victoria Lu, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
2005 “Gravity News”, curator: Kai Schupke, NewYorkRioTokyo, Berlin, Germany
“Red Beans and Rice”, curator: Koan Jeff Baysa, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
“Hors Cadrage”, curator: Alexandra Chang, ISE Cultural Foundation, Soho, NY.
2004 * “Fiction Love”, curator: Victoria Lu, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.
“1:100”, curator: Christina Ray, DCKT Contemporary, Chelsea, NY.
“Ultra-L: 2 Persons Show”, curator: Sean Stoops, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA.
* “Vector”, CAB Museum: The Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
2003 "ICH LIEBE ALLES*”, curator: DL Alvarez, PP's MuMu at Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany
“Tsumari Gei in Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial”, Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial, Tsumari, Niigata, Japan.
“The Mythical Nation”, curator: Johanna Bresnick, Artspace, New Haven, CT.
2002 “Autoritratto”, curator: Stefano Pasquini, Sesto Senso, Bologna, Italy
2000 “Rounding & Rounding”, Sakima Museum, Okinawa. Sponsored by Toyota Car Corporation, etc.
1999 “Old Peanuts Factory Exhibition”, Old Shimousaya Factory, Chiba. Sponsored by Toyota Car Corporation, etc.
1998 * “JPS ‘98 Winners’ Exhibition”, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Kyoto Museum, Aichi Museum and Fukuoka Museum
AWARDS & HONORS
2007 Jamaica Flux 2007, Jamaica Center for the Arts and Learning, Queens, NY
2005 Manhattan Community Arts Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

COLLECTIONS
2004 “Coffin for the Living”, CAB, The Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Spain.
1998 “Voice of Stone”, Sakima Museum, Ginowan, Okinawa.

EDUCATION
2002 MFA, School of VISUAL Arts, Manhattan, NY.
1997 BFA, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Ueno, Tokyo.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009 Tokyo Art Beat, People’s Faces Light Up by James Jack, October 28th, Tokyo
The Korea Times, Arts & Living: Spotlight on Woman Artists at Incheon Biennale, July 30th, Korea
2007 Asahi Newspaper, Culture by Sanzo Tanaka, December 18th, Tokyo
New York Times, ART REVIEW, MAKING A HOME by Karen Rosenberg, November 9th, New York
New York Magazine, Art Candy by Rachel Wolff, October 11th, New York
2006 Art Asia Pacific, Review from Red Bean and Rice Show, April、New York
2005 Sports & Street, Artist ON/Megumi Akiyoshi, July, Italy
2004 El Mundo, “CULTURA: INNOVACION”, January 31, Spain
ABC, “AGENDA CULTURAL”, January 24, Spain
2003 New York Times, ART REVIEW; The Asia Within Us, CT, July 27th, New York