[EN]PROFILE

ArtistNANAE MITOBE

■Biography

Artist.

She studied oil painting at the Tokyo University of the Arts which she integrated in 2021 and graduated from in 2024. As a student, she participated in an exchange program at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 2022 to 2023 in order to study figurative painting.

She paints thick, heavy paintings by boldly grabbing oil paints from Ittokan (a cuboid tin can of 18-20 liters) with her hands. She has been painting portraits of public figures as motifs for several years, and a residency in the United States in 2014 led to her DEPTH series of anonymous faces, which was exhibited at the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2016. I am a yellow from the series was acquired by the same museum in 2020. In recent years, she received the VOCA Encouragement Award from the Ueno Royal Museum in 2020 and held a solo exhibition at the Tokyo Opera City project N in 2022. She has produced the cover art for Masaki Sugata’s CD album Last Scene, and appeared in the PR campaign for CASIO’s G-SHOCK 2100 Series. Her representative works include STAR Series featuring pop icons such as Michael Jackson and David Bowie, and Picture Diary depicting current global events that appear on the SNS platforms.

Major exhibitions include Black Face, White Face at rin art association (2023), Sitting People Sin-In at agnès b. galerie boutique(2023), WHAT COLOR DO YOU SEE? at THE LOOP GALLERY(2023), Green and Red – at GUCCI NAMIKI, Tokyo, Japan(2023), war is not over at void+ (2022), OKETA COLLECTION: THE SIRIUS at Spiral Garden (2022), project N 85 Nanae Mitobe / I am not an Object at Tokyo Opera City (2022), VOCA Exhibition 2021 at Ueno Royal Museum (2021), Rock is Dead at biscuit gallery (2021), -Inside the Collectorʼs Vault, vol.1-Unleashed Collection Exhibition at WHAT (2020), I am yellow at Maki Fine Arts (2019), APMoA, ARCH vol.18 DEPTH – Dynamite Pigment – at Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (2016).

■SOLO SHOWS

2021

“I can’t speak English” NADiff Gallery, Tokyo
”Rock is Dead” biscuit gallery,Tokyo

2019

“I am yellow” Maki Fine Arts, Tokyo

2018

“DEPTH ? Blue Pigment” florist gallery N, Aichi

2016

“MITOBE Nanae Exhibition” gallery21yo-j, Tokyo
“DEPTH ? Tranquil Pigment” gallery N, Aichi
“APMoA project, ARCH vol.18: DEPTH – Dynamite Pigment” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi

2014

“ABRAHAM” LOOP HOLE, Tokyo
“Mitobe Nanae Solo Show” Gendai Heights Gallery Den .st, Tokyo

■GROUP SHOWS

2019

“Nanae Mitobe x Yosuke Takayama Exhibition ? Depth of Face” Kannai Bunko, Kanagawa
“Takahashi Collection | Art’s Home” Tsuruoka Art Forum, Yamagata

2018

“Takahashi Collection ─ Face and Abstraction” Kiyoharu Art Colony, Yamanashi

2017

“Artists’ Book Exhibition SENDAI ?? TOKYO” NADiff A/P/A/R/T, Tokyo; void+, Tokyo; Gallery TURNAROUND, Sendai
“ABraCaDabra” Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Chiba
“100100000000 Light Year Tunnel” Musee Hamaguchi Yozo: Yamasa Collection, Tokyo
“Museum Wonder Land 2017” Toyoshina Modern Art Museum, Nagano
“ART in PARK HOTEL TOKYO 2017” Park Hotel Tokyo, Tokyo

2015

“The first decade of LOOP HOLE” Fuchu Green Plaza gallery, Tokyo
“Red body” T&S GALLERY / TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN

2014

“Clever Hans” TALION GALLERY, Tokyo
Open space exhibition, Alternative Space Gell, Tokyo
“Desert Sketches” Burning Man exhibition tent, Black Rock City, Nevada
“FUCHU OF MADNESS” LOOP HOLE, Tokyo

2013

“Bulletin” Nihon University College of Art, Ekoda campus, Tokyo
“since” T&S GALLERY / TIME & STYLE MIDTOWN, Tokyo

2012

“16 Young Artists” Keiyudoh Gallery, Tokyo
“460 Exhibition” Yada Gallery, Aichi
“3331 Independents Scholarship Exhibition” 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo
“Chocolats des Fuchu 2012” LOOP HOLE, Tokyo

2011

“Density II” Art Lab, Aichi
“Iconophobia ? Fascination and Fear of Images” Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art and florist・gallery N, Aichi
“BLUMEN GARTEN” LOOP HOLE, Tokyo

COLLECTIONS

Takahashi collection

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

2018

TV appearance: “Why Publish Such a Book?” Nippon TV

2017

Gallery talk with Youichiro Yoshikawa: “Graspable Paintings” Musee
Hamaguchi Yozo?Yamasa Collection, Tokyo
“Bird Sketches” artist in residence, Germany
TV appearance: Sunday Museum Art Scene, NHK TV

2016

Gallery talk with Kento Nito, florist gallery N, Aichi
Gallery talk with Kazuhiro Nomura, gallery 21yo-j, Tokyo
Gallery talk with Kazuho Soeda, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi

2014

Artist in residence: “Desert Sketches” Black Rock City, Nevada

2013

TV program appearance: “Docking 48” Kansai Television
TV program appearance: “Sukkiri!!” Nippon TV
TV program appearance: “B-grade News Show”

ACCOLADES

2013

Prize recipient: Morikazu Kumagawa Award

2011

Prize recipient: “2011 Chiyoda Arts Festival / 3331 Independents Scholarship Exhibition” O JUN special judge prize

PUBLICATIONS

2018

Magazine article: “Art Told Through Faces” Richesse No. 23 issue
Pictorial record: “Museum Wonder Land 2017” Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Design 50th Anniversary publication

2017

Newspaper article: “Expressing through the Artist’s Perspective” Kahoku Shinpo,
Book: “Artists’ Book Exhibition SENDAI ?? TOKYO,” contributed by Taro Igarashi (architecture critic and professor at Tohoku University) and
Ryoko Kamiyama (Fuchu Art Museum curator); design by Toshiki Koike
Newspaper article: “Layered Time Taking Shape?
100100000000 Light Year Tunnel exhibition” Asahi Shimbun
Newspaper article: “Seeking the Essence of the Act of Drawing?12 Painters and their Unique Interpretations at Ichihara Lakeside Museum” Chiba Nippo
Magazine article: “Nanae Mitobe’s Five Years” Gallery vol. 6

2016

Magazine article: “100 Newcomer Artists You Never Heard Of” Bijyutsu Techo December issue
Book: Girl’s Room by Shiori Kawamoto, Graphic-sha Publishing
Magazine article: art review magazine REAR vol. 37, reviewed by Yumiko Nonaka
Magazine article: Nagoya City Art Museum PR magazine Art Paper vol. 101, reviewed by Kasagi Hinako of Nagoya City Art Museum
Newspaper article: Nikkei art page January 27, by Machiko Chiba (Toyota Municipal Museum of Art curator)
Newspaper article: Chunichi art page January 20
Magazine cover: Sakura?Nagoya Chikusa-ku February issue

2015

Magazine article (feature): “The Future of Oil Painting: Unwavering Challenge Toward Embodiment; 11 Artists Working in the Tomorrow” Gekkan Bijyutsu May issue

2013

Book: Daraku Room by Shiori Kawamoto, Graphic-sha Publishing
Magazine article: Photo Technic Digital March issue

2012

Pictorial record: “460 Persons Exhibition” self-publication
Magazine article: “When Poetry and Art Meet: Hideharu Ogawa?Vision of Contemporary Art” Gallery vol. 4
Magazine article: “3331 Independents Scholarship Exhibition,” commentary by guest judges, 3331 TRANS ARTS vol. 02

2011

Show catalog: Iconophobia ? Fascination and Fear of Images, concept and editing by Hiroki Tsutsui, design by Masao Shirasawa
Magazine article: “Taichiro Takamatsu (pinepine) + Nanae Mitobe show BLUMEN GARTEN” art review magazine REAR vol. 26, reviewed by Hiroki Tsutsui